'Neverkusen' no more as Bayer win first German title

Bayer Leverkusen annihilated Werder Bremen by five goals to nil at the BayArena to ensure they have won their first ever German Bundesliga title with five games of the season to go. 

LINEUPS  

BAYER LEVERKUSEN XI: Hradecky*; Kossounou, Tah, Tapsoba; Tella, Andrich, Xhaka, Hincapie; Hofmann, Adli; Boniface

BAYER LEVERKUSEN SUBS: Kovar, Stanisic, Frimpong, Arthur, Alex Grimaldo, Palacios, Puerta, Wirtz, Schick

WERDER BREMEN XI: Zetterer; Malatini, Gross, Veljkovic; Weiser, Schmid, Bittencourt*, Lynen, Agu; Woltemade, Ducksch

WERDER BREMEN SUBS: Haesler, Deman, Rocker, Hansen-Aaroen, Imasuen, Optiz, Kownacki

Action: With Xabi Alonso choosing to make some changes for this one, with the likes of Jeremie Frimpong, Alex Grimaldo, Florian Wirtz and Patrik Schick starting on the bench, Bayer Leverkusen still managing to begin the game on the front foot.

Leverkusen, as they aimed to win their first ever Bundesliga title, started game exceptionally well and very nearly took an early lead via Ecuadorian international Piero Hincapie. Amine Adli crossed well for Hincapie but the defender had his shot well blocked by goalkeeper Michael Zetterer.

The hosts, after some pressure, did eventually break the deadlock via a penalty after 25 minutes. Another cross from the right, this time Nathan Tella, allowed Jonas Hofmann to pip defender Christian Gross to the ball. 

After a consultation with the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), the referee pointed to the spot. Nigeria international Victor Boniface stepped up and confidently, firmly pushed the ball past Zetterer.

Champions-elect Leverkusen continued their first-half domination and very nearly doubled their lead a few minutes later when Hofmann’s corner kick was followed by a goalmouth scramble with Boniface and Jonathan Tah both going close.
Morocco international Amine Adli then went close himself before the break when he managed to break the Werder Bremen defensive lines before firing an effort against the woodwork.

Werder Bremen had a few flurries forward before the interval but, despite Mitchell Weiser being able to create a couple of chances, the visitors didn’t go remotely close to equalising.  

In what began as a fairly even second-half, Bayer Leverkusen upped the ante after round 15 minutes and soon after that they doubled their lead via Switzerland international Granit Xhaka.

Boniface, with his back to goal on the edge of the box, laid the ball off for Xhaka. From around 30 yards, the former Arsenal whipped an effort pace into the top corner of the Werder goal.

Shortly after that, another screamer made it 3-0 to the hosts when Xhaka laid the ball to Robert Andrich, who found Florian Wirtz from around 25 yards. He unleashed a knuckle ball effort that wobbled and flew down the middle of the goal beyond Zetterer. 

Leverkusen then began to threaten to run riot in the final 15 minutes of the game with both Patrik Schick and Nathan Tella having good chances but neither converted.

That wasn’t the case for young talisman Wirtz, though. The ‘wunderkind’ added two more to his season tally and completed a hat-trick with two goals that sparked a pitch invasion on both occasions with the referee eventually calling time shortly after the full 90 to allow the celebrations to truly begin.

There is to be a new name on the Bundesliga trophy:

🏆 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 🏆 pic.twitter.com/xUBVbkYENm

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) April 14, 2024

The big picture: Bayer Leverkusen have won the Bundesliga for the first time ever and finally ended their ‘Neverkusen’ jinx. They will hope it is the first of what may be a treble as they face Kaiserslautern in the DFB-Pokal final next month and they are 2-0 up on aggregate in the quarter-finals of their UEFA Europa League tie against West Ham United. Werder Bremen, on the other hand, sit firmly in the middle-of-the-table.

Man of the match: Florian Wirtz. He was only a substitute but three second-half goals means that Die Mannschaft’s young spark marked himself out as the man of the match. 

EVENTS

Kick-off

’25 | GOAL: Boniface [pen] (1-0)

Half-time

’61 | GOAL: Xhaka (2-0)

’68 | GOAL: Wirtz (3-0)

’83 | GOAL: Wirtz (4-0)

’90 | GOAL: Wirtz (5-0)

Full-time