Leverkusen seal the Bundesliga title with 5-0 win – as it happened | Bundesliga
Key events
Our match report is in, so that’s my cue to go and get some fresh air. It’s been an honour to cover this piece of history, made by a team who are entertaining all the way through, from their elegant defenders to their explosive forwards. Thanks for your company, correspondence and views on Xabi Alonso’s career prospects. If you’re in the mood for a little more action, do join Scott Murray at the Masters.
Time for one last email: “Tim!” says Nigel Moore. “Surely it’s Bayer Neverlusem now!”
How do you celebrate the first league title in your club’s 120-year history? By dancing with your phone, obviously.
For now, the only thing Alonso has to worry about is getting the beer out of his hair.
“Congratulations to Xabi for keeping his head,” says Krish Krishnamoorthy. “A move to Spain or England is bound to end in a disaster. But he won’t be able to resist the deep purses of Bayern, Real and Chelsea for long.” Are you sure? He probably doesn’t need the money. And if he were to go back to Bayern or Real in due course, it might be his heart speaking rather than his pocket.
It’s high time we heard from Peter Oh, our pun correspondent. “‘Neverkusen’,” he says, “is now consigned to the dustbin of history. It’s really unfortunate that it no longer looks likely that, come the end of May, we’ll be able to use ‘Leverkool’ to mash up the Europa League finalists and newly crowned champions of Germany and England.”
Arsenal have lost 2-0 to Villa after turning a stalemate into an embarrassment. “At least,” says Ruth Purdue, “Xhaka left to win the league.”
The stadium DJ is playing a song just for Xavi Alonso. It is … Y Viva Espana. Corny but nice.
Here’s one they prepared earlier.
The stadium is still wreathed in smoke, the pitch packed with supporters. It’s amazing that the camerapeople are managing to pick out the players. They find Nathan Tella, so smiley when he came off, now looking understandably alarmed.
In other news, Arsenal are 2-0 down at home to Villa. So today may go down as the day when Man City won the league yet again. Which will be a great achievement, but not as great as Leverkusen’s.
It couldn’t happen to a better football team. Or a more impressive young manager.
Bayer Leverkusen 5-0 Werder Bremen
What a way to break your duck. They haven’t just won 5-0, they’ve broken Bayern’s record for the longest unbeaten streak from the start of a Bundesliga season.
LEVERKUSEN ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!
And that’s it. Never say Neverkusen again.
GOALLLLLL!!!! Leverkusen 5-0 Bremen (Wirtz 90)
Wirtz has never scored a senior hat-trick … he has now!
87 min Watching Leverkusen play with such verve, and listening to the crowd cheer them with such passion, you can see exactly why Xabi Alonso wants to stay there.
85 min There’s a haze in the air now as the smoke bombs go off. But it’s perfectly clear that Leverkusen are not about to concede four goals. They are the champions, my friends.
GOAL! Leverkusen 4-0 Bremen (Wirtz 83)
Wirtz is sent through all on his own and, of course, he finishes clinically. Then he has to turn into a policeman as the fans are now so excited that some of them invade the pitch. To be fair, they clear off sharpish.
81 min Alonso made a fifth change too, taking off the left-back Hincapié and bringing on Alex Grimaldo. He was signed on a free from Benfica and has 20 goal involvements this season.
80 min We’ve now reached the stage of the match when Leverkusen really get going.
77 min More subs. Off goes Granit Xhaka, shouting at someone, though not at Alonso, who greets him with a warm hug and a quiet word.
74 min A half-chance for Bremen as Romano Schmid hits a volley that he can’t quite keep down.
72 min Chance for Leverkusen! Frimpong seizes on a loose pass and hits a powerful shot that is too close to the keeper.
71 min Wirtz is 20. And Leverkusen are about to win the league.
69 min I was halfway through typing a sentence saying that Wirtz had been showing his worth – £100m, according to Transfermarkt – with his ability to dance in the box. But he didn’t need it then: like Xhaka, he received the ball 30 yards out and hit a beautiful shot. It was central, but with added topspin.
GOALLLLL! Leverkusen 3-0 Bremen (Wirtz 68)
Another screamer!
65 min As the goal went in, the cameras found a Leverkusen fan, a big tough-looking guy of about 50, bursting into tears of joy. What is it going to be like at the final whistle?
64 min Xabi Alonso reacted to the second goal by sending on two more subs, Frimpong for Tella and Schick for Boniface. Tella, tellingly, came off with a big smile on his face.
Xhaka’s strike was clocked at 107 kph. And the chance had an xG of 0.03 – the same as the Premier League Goal of the Month for March, Marcus Rashford’s rocket against Man City.
This is a screamer. Boniface produced some good hold-up play and laid the ball back to Xhaka, but he was way out – maybe 30 yards. He hit it first time, curving it into the corner. What a way to extend your lead.
GOALLL! Leverkusen 2-0 Bremen (Xhaka 60)
Xhaka can, Xhaka can.
58 min Leverkusen come again, with five forwards in a line. One of them is Boniface who produces a lovely turn, only to fail to find a shot. From the resulting corner, Wirtz tries a long shot that curls in promisingly but goes just wide.
55 min Leverkusen carve Bremen open with two diagonal balls, but Boniface finds himself outpaced by Julian Malatini.
54 min The noise is now as loud as it was at the start. The sound of nearby thunder.
52 min Up the other end, Boniface plays a peach of a pass through to Wirtz in the inside-left channel. He can’t quite find space for a shot and passes back to Boniface, who blasts the ball over the bar.
50 min Chance for Bremen! Their captain, Leonardo Bittencourt, has a crack from the D. It’s straight at the keeper, but still, that is Bremen’s first shot on target.
49 min Wirtz has replaced Adli, who was on a yellow. A few minutes ago Leverkusen picked up another booking as Hincapié went into a challenge with his studs too high.
48 min Bremen get a shot in, from a tight angle, and it’s easily gathered in by Lukas Hradecky in the Leverkusen goal.
46 min Leverkusen kick off. They’re 45 minutes from glory, and Xabi Alonso feels it’s time to send on one of his star players, Florian Wirtz.
Not getting over-excited, yet.
An email! “Great to see a non-Bavarian side take the title this year,” says Alun Pugh, getting slightly ahead of himself. “I’ll be in die Hauptstadt in a fortnight with my son to watch Herta v Hannover. Just like Fulham, there’s a swimming pool attached to the stadium there. Unlike Fulham it’s just €25 for the ticket and you can take a (decent) beer into stands. Craven Cottage has Michelin cooking for the corporate crowd, it’s the wurst idea I’ve ever seen.” Ha.
HALF-TIME! Leverkusen 1-0 Werder Bremen
The difference between the sides is Victor Boniface’s penalty. Plus a visible gulf in class, but Bremen are putting up a good fight and they’re still in it.
45+3 min Bremen get away with a one-on-one, but (a) it’s out on the right, and (b) it soon becomes a one-on-four as the black-and-red shirts come bustling in.
45+1 min Chance for Bremen! A lovely curling cross came in from the left and Leverkusen needed some desperate defending to keep the ball out. The net did bulge, but only with a figure in white whose momentum carried him there.
45 min Leverkusen have a corner, but when the ball comes out to Xhaka, his chip is less than delicious. There will be four added minutes.
42 min Leverkusen take a minute or two to get their breath back and improve their possession stats.
38 min Leverkusen hit the bar! Adli almost does a Geoff Hurst, only to see the ball bounce back into play. The pass, from Hofmann, was a gorgeous chip with some lovely back-spin on it.
