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!”
Updated
How do you celebrate the first league title in your club’s 120-year history? By dancing with your phone, obviously.
Na-na-na-na-na, na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na! 🕺#Winnerkusen #DeutscherMeisterSVB pic.twitter.com/xMSM2Wl7b6
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) April 14, 2024
For now, the only thing Alonso has to worry about is getting the beer out of his hair.
WE LOVE YOU XABI! 🍻#Winnerkusen #DeutscherMeisterSVB @XabiAlonso pic.twitter.com/haCil7N4fH
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) April 14, 2024
Updated
“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.”
Updated
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.
WE DID IT! 😍🏆#Winnerkusen #DeutscherMeisterSVB pic.twitter.com/jdMkQArDO5
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) April 14, 2024
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.
Updated
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.
Updated
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.
Updated
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.
Updated
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.
Updated
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.
Updated
GOALLLLL! Leverkusen 3-0 Bremen (Wirtz 68)
Another screamer!
Updated
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.
Updated
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.
Halfway there...
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) April 14, 2024
1-0 | #B04SVW | #Bayer04 | #ForOurDream pic.twitter.com/5lGk43SFG5
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.
37 min Bremen moves through the gears faster than usual, but Leverkusen send reinforcements to their left-back zone and see off the danger. The volume is back up again.
35 min Chance for Hofmann! Right foot, well hit, blocked on the line.
33 min There’s a pause as Nathan Tella, who joined Leverkusen from Southampton, gets some treatment for a bang on the nose.
Updated
30 min As the half-hour chimes, Adli picks up a yellow card for a late challenge, which means he’ll miss the next match. As things stand, he won’t be missing much.
29 min Pinball in the Bremen box! Leverkusen get about four chances in ten seconds … and can’t quite nail any of them.
28 min Another chance for Xhaka! At a corner he’s Scot-free at the edge of the box, Cole Palmer style, but his booming shot goes just over.
27 min That is Boniface’s second goal of the week and his 18th of the season. And as it stands, Leverkusen are champions.
GOAL! Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 Werder Bremen (Boniface 25)
Slotted away, no trouble. The keeper went the right way, to his left, but the pen was struck well enough to beat him.
Updated
It’s Victor Boniface …
Penalty to Leverkusen!
No attempt to play the ball from the defender. And no offside!
23 min The volume has gone down, from thunderous to merely loud. But now Leverkusen want a penalty as Jonas Hofmann, swooping on a low cross, goes down in the box. The ref doesn’t give it, but if it’s not offside, the decision could be overturned.
Updated
20 min Leverkusen are making a few mistakes, perhaps feeling the weight of history on their shoulders. Bremen get half a chance in the box, but again the Leverkusen defenders clear up their own mess.
18 min Chance for Xhaka! He has a go from distance and wins a corner with a deflection. The corner is well claimed by the keeper, but you can see why Xhaka is on his way to being a Leverkusen legend.
15 min Another cross aimed at Boniface, from the right this time, strays too close to the keeper. Before that Xhaka walked through midfield. Who does he think he is, Martin Odegaard?
14 min Leverkusen are one of those teams that just seem to have an extra player (and that’s before you take account of the crowd). They gang up on Werder Bremen’s right-back and conjure up what should be a good chance, but the cross doesn’t quite reach Victor Boniface.
11 min A minor alarm for Leverkusen as they get caught playing out from the back, but they regain their composure instantly to deal with the danger.
9 min Chance! Leverkusen’s left-wing-back, Piero Hincapié, slides in at the far post and really should score, but Michael Zetterer make sa fine point-blank save. Maybe it’s because Hincapié is normally a centre-back.
7 min Werder Bremen are having to play a lot of passes just to get out of their third. Finally they manage it and venture into the box, but the attack is easily snuffed out.
5 min No drama yet, so the commentators are filling the gaps with stats. Leverkusen have dropped only four points at home the season (won 12, drawn two). And they’ve scored 24 goals in all comps after the 80th minute.
3 min The singing from the home fans is like Anfield on a good day. It’s lucky their team are so closely associated with a pharma company: thousands of people are going to need throat lozenges tomorrow.
2 min Leverkusen get into the box for the first time with Amine Adli running onto a nice through ball from the right, but he can’t control it.
1 min Werder kick off, all in white, and string a few passes together before Leverkusen get the ball back to their keeper.
The Bay Arena is one big red-and-black flag. The sun is out, and so are the players.
Updated
This afternoon’s other match in the Bundesliga has just finished (with Darmstadt losing 1-0 at home to Freiburg). Which is a relief to the British live-blogging community, as the two games have to share one Sky Sports channel.
When Harry Kane left north London for Bayern Munich last summer, he may have felt that he was almost guaranteeing himself a first league title. When Granit Xhaka left north London for Bayer Leverkusen last summer, his expectations will have been more modest – he was quitting the second-best team in England for the sixth-best one in Germany. And yet here we are.
In other news, Liverpool have lost. At home. For the second time in four days. John Brewin has the details.
Updated
Pre-match reading.
And here’s the Werder Bremen team. They will have nothing to lose.
🗒️ 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦
— SV Werder Bremen EN (@werderbremen_en) April 14, 2024
Our XI to tackle the league leaders 🤩#werder #b04svw pic.twitter.com/jMCuRMrcbs
Hofmann and Boniface are back
Xabi Alonso names a strong side – and still has Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz up his sleeve.
Starting XI for #B04SVW - let's go! 👊#ForOurDream | #Bayer04 #Werkself pic.twitter.com/GoFNADiJLM
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) April 14, 2024
Preamble
Afternoon everyone and welcome to what should be a piece of history. Bayer Leverkusen need just one more win to seal their first Bundesliga title in their 120th year, and never again be called Neverkusen. As Xabi Alonso’s Invincibles have won their last nine league games, one more shouldn’t be too tricky. Their opponents, Werder Bremen, are a mid-table team in a slump that has brought only two points from six games over the past two months. But still, the final fence can do funny things to even the strongest steeplechaser.
Werder will be the fresher of the two sides, having had eight days off since they drew at Eintracht Frankfurt. Leverkusen had to play on Thursday night in the Europa League, not that they showed any sign of being bothered as they ran rings around West Ham. They had 73 per cent of the possession and 33 of the 34 attempts on goal. At times, there were 21 players in or just outside the West Ham box, with only the Leverkusen goalie, Matej Kovar, missing out on the party.
Alonso must have been tearing his hair out when it was still 0-0 after 75 minutes. But one of the subs he sent on then, Jonas Hofmann, soon scored the first goal, and another, Victor Boniface, added a second in stoppage time. This season, Leverkusen have always found a way. They are 13 points clear of Bayern Munich with a game in hand. The Bundesliga often ends up as a one-horse race, but never before has that horse been called Bayer Leverkusen.
Kick-off is at 5.30pm in the Rheinland, 4.30pm BST. I’ll be back as soon as we get the team news.
Updated
