Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso believes his side’s maiden Bundesliga title is a good thing for German football after Bayern Munich’s run of 11 straight championships came to an end.
“I am happy for everyone,” the Spaniard, in his first major coaching role, told DAZN after Sunday’s 5-0 win over Werder Bremen.
The win clinched the title with five games to spare and his side still unbeaten after 29 league games.
“Perhaps it is healthy for the Bundesliga and German football for other teams to win.
“We have to enjoy it. It is a super moment. Now it is time to celebrate. Today we have deserved it.”
Leverkusen can also seal a treble with a Europa League quarter-final second leg at West Ham United on Thursday, and a German Cup final against second tier Kaiserslautern on May 25.
But Alonso wants his team to party first.
“We can focus on West Ham soon but not tonight. Next week is something else. The players are a top, top team, they are top, top lads,” he said.
“For this season, we still have big goals. It is a very good spot for me to be. This feeling is unbelievable.”
Alonso, who was soaked with beer amid a massive pitch invasion, has turned down the chance of taking over former clubs Liverpool and Bayern to stay at Leverkusen and he remarked: “It was the right decision.”
Unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen win maiden Bundesliga
Bayer Leverkusen’s record-breaking run to their first Bundesliga title was no fluke, with a 16-month plan coming to fruition.
The team made sure of their first trophy in 31 years with five matches left in the season, snapping Bayern Munich’s 11-year stranglehold on the Bundesliga.
Sunday’s 5-0 home victory over Werder Bremen further stretched Leverkusen’s Bundesliga record unbeaten run to 29 games – 25 wins and four draws to chalk up 79 points.
Coach Xabi Alonso took over a struggling Leverkusen side in October 2022 with the team second-bottom after eight Bundesliga games, having their worst start to a season since 1979.
After a few months it became clear the Spaniard had successfully injected a winning mentality, with his team racing up the table to finish in sixth place.
But it was during that rise in form in late 2022 when Alonso and the club set the foundations for this season’s success.
With all eyes on the World Cup in Qatar, club bosses in Leverkusen sat down with Alonso to map out their transfer plans and put them into action early.
By July 2023 Leverkusen had assembled their full squad and went into pre-season training with no late additions in August or September, as is regularly the case with most teams.
These transfers included experienced Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka, who added steel in midfield.
Also Germany international Jonas Hofmann, Alejandro Grimaldo, who provided nine goals and 11 assists as an attacking left-back having joined on a free transfer, and 23-year-old Nigeria striker Victor Boniface.
Leverkusen took the season by storm from the start, racking up 11 wins in their first 12 league matches, with Boniface seemingly scoring at will with 10 goals and seven assists until his injury in January while on international duty.
