Bayers close to blitz championship
They will never get FC Bayern
April 12, 2024, 1:51 p.m
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will become German champions, there is no longer any reasonable doubt about that. Now it’s just a matter of the timing of the coronation. If Xabi Alonso’s team uses an early match point, they will secure a record in the league – behind FC Bayern.
No, the last legitimate doubts about Bayer Leverkusen’s championship title were washed away on the last matchday of the Bundesliga: by the brave Heidenheimers, who had once again brought down the shaky structure of FC Bayern Munich. And of course from the league leader himself, who simply shows no weaknesses. The runner-up, FC Bayern Munich, who recently won the title eleven times in a row, are 16 points behind Bayer Leverkusen, the first, after 28 match days.
With a win of their own, Bayer Leverkusen would mercilessly end the record champions’ massive streak next Sunday. And at the same time set a league record – in the unofficial category “Earliest champion not called Bayern Munich”! In addition: early title wins are more common in the history of the Bundesliga than decisions on the last match day. However, the title is rarely perfected as early as Leverkusen could achieve it, even by FC Bayern.
The previous record holder could be the first to congratulate if coach Xabi Alonso’s team actually converts the first match point: Werder Bremen is traveling to the Rhineland – and is miles away from their former great deeds. The North Germans, who are currently teetering on the relegation battle after just one win in their last nine Bundesliga games, were able to lift the championship trophy into the sky after 31 games in 1987/88. Karl-Heinz Riedle headed Werder early to the title at Eintracht Frankfurt, and FC Bayern’s parallel 5-0 win against VfL Bochum was a goal spectacle only for the statistics.
Only – of course – FC Bayern was faster than Werder Bremen in 1988. And in many ways. For decades, the championship title from the 1972/73 season, which was won on matchday 30, was the record title, before this record was beaten several times in the new millennium.
Things happened fastest in 2013/14, when the German championship was decided in March. For the first and only time so far. FC Bayern won 3-1 under Pep Guardiola at Hertha BSC in the Olympic Stadium. Because the pursuers Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 separated goallessly, the goal scorers Toni Kroos, Mario Götze and Franck Ribéry were able to celebrate the record title with their colleagues. In the end, 19 of the 25 point lead from March 25th remained.
A year earlier, FC Bayern under Jupp Heynckes had “only” brought the championship trophy back from Dortmund to Munich on matchday 28, but then pulled through mercilessly: the lead over Borussia Dortmund was 25 points after 34 games. Record!
After that, the German champions were called FC Bayern Munich year after year. The series will probably end in April 2024. If FC Bayern loses its own home game against 1. FC Köln, the title will be gone as early as next Saturday.