It was almost a year to the day since Xabi Alonso took over. It was meant to be his day. Köln, Bayer Leverkusen’s near neighbours from 15 minutes down the road who don’t even see them as their deadliest rivals – that honour is left to Borussia Mönchengladbach – were hoping that this would be their own crossroads. How it all ended up at 5.20pm on Sunday was an unequivocal verdict, one that made us feel daft for ever doubting.
Alonso’s historical precedent overrode Köln’s. Pre-match, with little to encourage them in form or fettle, Effzeh fans looked back nearly four years to December 2019, when a gritty and unexpected 2-0 win over Leverkusen kicked them into a revival under Markus Gisdol, powering them up and away from their last close brush with relegation. Köln had won the last derby too against Alonso’s side in May, taking advantage of superior opponents flagging under the strain of a run to the Europa League semi-finals with two goals from Davie Selke at BayArena.
This time it was, it turned out, hoping against hope. Leverkusen’s 3-0 win was, if anything, an understatement of how superior they were, illustrating the supreme confidence of Alonso’s players in his work and their own. The teams had started the weekend in almost opposite positions, with Leverkusen top and Köln only kept from the bottom by Mainz and if you hadn’t known that, the afternoon’s entertainment would have described the respective current positions as eloquently as you could have hoped. Steffen Baumgart’s team slumping to rock bottom (which was down to, coincidentally, Gladbach not beating Mainz on Friday night) further underlined the contrast.
A derby is habitually meant to suspend form, but Leverkusen under Alonso have been expert at ignoring anything outside their bubble. Just as they found the clarity and the character to trim opponents down to size with invention and speed from the early months of his reign, when they were forced to deal with vanquishing the spectre of relegation in the short term, they were able to step away from getting sucked into the typical skirmishes of a local rivalry here and make their class count.
The addition of Granit Xhaka has been part of being able to handle the basics to be able to play their game. “It’s not just beautiful football,” he said proudly afterwards. He was evangelical in describing his coach’s role as well. “We are patient,” he said, “and we know exactly what tasks we have. It’s fun with this team.”
It really looks it. Leverkusen’s goals were a case study of their versatility; Jonas Hofmann, a low-key star of Die Werkself’s excellent start, slamming home Florian Wirtz’s smart back-heel, the sort of move that Köln simply don’t have in them, for the first. The second, wing-back to wing-back, with Álex Grimaldo’s low cross tucked in at the back post by Jeremie Frimpong. The third, with the inevitable Victor Boniface finishing off a swift counter, was almost showing off. This level of composure and strength is not something that past Leverkusen sides, for all their aesthetic qualities, have had.
Even if Baumgart was deeply annoyed by an apparent Boniface handball not being penalised further back in the move for the opening goal (and was cautioned for his touchline protests), he had no complaints over the result. If Leverkusen have recovered from losing Moussa Diaby by adding Boniface, Xhaka and Hofmann, the losses of Jonas Hector and Ellyes Skhiri, a “side-effect of Köln’s austerity measures” as Kicker described it, are being keenly felt. Baumgart is an admirable and popular man, and had attempted to rouse his squad for this, both by pledging “we will go full throttle and attack” in his pre-match press conference on Friday and then in a rousing speech at the club’s Geißbockheim training ground the next day. “They want to tear us apart as a team tomorrow,” he had told his men. “Humiliating us tomorrow is their only goal.”
Mönchengladbach 2-2 Mainz, Werder Bremen 2-3 Hoffenheim, Stuttgart 3-1 Wolfsburg, Leipzig 0-0 Bochum, Augsburg 1-2 Darmstadt, Dortmund 4-2 Union Berlin, Eintracht 2-0 Heinenheim, Bayern Munich 3-0 Freiburg, Leverkusen 3-0 Cologne
Except it probably wasn’t because, as always, Leverkusen under Alonso ploughed their own furrow. And when you can tuck Hofmann and Wirtz behind Boniface, why would you need to worry about what the other team is doing? The leaders are the Bundesliga’s joint top scorers and, as standings currently show, the best team, as well as the division’s best to watch. Whether they can maintain that remains to be seen, in both the short and medium term. Alonso was asked on Friday about the links to succeeding Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid. “It’s only September, so it’s not an issue,” may have been a call for calm but it was hardly a forceful denial.
Yet such is the pure joy of watching Leverkusen at this moment that it feels like the here and now is all that matters. And that, embracing the moment whatever else might be going on, is the real key to Alonso’s genius.
Talking points
• Harry Kane has only had one shot on target in his last three games (last week’s successful penalty against Leipzig) but Bayern Munich were more than able to compensate, cruising past Freiburg at the Allianz Arena with a Kingsley Coman double and an assurance that recalled more stable Bayern sides. “I’m glad that it ended 3-0,” sighed visiting coach Christian Streich, “because there could have been one or two more goals. We had no chance.”
• Xavi Simons took a week off walking on water in a frustrating Saturday afternoon for Leipzig, seeing a first-half penalty comfortably saved by Bochum’s Manuel Riemann. “He’s not a magician,” reasoned coach Marco Rose. “He’s just an outstanding kid.” At least Simons had some company, with Riemann also saving a later spot-kick from Emil Forsberg, gleaning Thomas Letsch’s team a point at Leipzig for the first time ever.
• Union Berlin, after more late Champions League heartbreak in midweek, slipped to a seventh straight loss in all competitions – and that after having led at Borussia Dortmund at the interval following an interminable first half littered with VAR-based delays. Nico Schlotterbeck’s rocket and Julian Brandt’s goal turned it around in five minutes early in the second half on the way to a 4-2 defeat. “The way in which we conceded the second and third goals is not possible at this level,” complained an annoyed Urs Fischer. “We were stupid and naive.” For BVB it was job just about done – again – after a week in which Gregor Kobel and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens signed contract extensions to 2028. The latter staying might put the block on a mooted return for Jadon Sancho (who Bynoe-Gittens said this week “is like a big brother to me”).
• All hail Serhou Guirassy, back on the goalscoring horse in spectacular fashion after last week’s first blank of the season. His 15-minute hat-trick took him to 13 for the season and made Stuttgart leaders on Saturday night as they came from behind to beat Wolfsburg. Coach Sebastian Hoeness suggested he will use the international break to “stop for a moment and enjoy it” while the red-hot Chris Führich, who set up Guirassy’s second with a delicious through ball, will spend his in the US with Germany after a first call-up.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bayer Leverkusen | 7 | 17 | 19 |
| 2 | Stuttgart | 7 | 14 | 18 |
| 3 | Bayern Munich | 7 | 17 | 17 |
| 4 | Borussia Dortmund | 7 | 8 | 17 |
| 5 | Hoffenheim | 7 | 5 | 15 |
| 6 | RB Leipzig | 7 | 10 | 14 |
| 7 | Wolfsburg | 7 | 1 | 12 |
| 8 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 7 | 1 | 10 |
| 9 | Freiburg | 7 | -6 | 10 |
| 10 | Heidenheim | 7 | -5 | 7 |
| 11 | Darmstadt | 7 | -7 | 7 |
| 12 | Borussia M'gladbach | 7 | -3 | 6 |
| 13 | Union Berlin | 7 | -3 | 6 |
| 14 | Werder Bremen | 7 | -5 | 6 |
| 15 | Augsburg | 7 | -7 | 5 |
| 16 | VfL Bochum | 7 | -14 | 4 |
| 17 | Mainz | 7 | -13 | 2 |
| 18 | Cologne | 7 | -10 | 1 |
