Munich “arrogance” vs Bayer Gen
Leverkusen is penetrating galaxies that Bavaria never reached
By David Needy, Berlin
April 7, 2024, 7:13 a.m
FC Bayern embarrassed themselves to the bone in Heidenheim, Bayer Leverkusen can win the Blitz championship next weekend. Against Union Berlin, Xabi Alonso’s team showed their very own Bayer winning genes – while the Munich team collapsed.
Shortly after half past five on Saturday evening. When Thomas Tuchel’s team had already crawled off the pitch for several minutes, Bayer Leverkusen was still dancing in front of the fans who had traveled with them in the Alte Försterei. Crisis at FC Bayern, euphoria at the league leaders. The mood at the moment couldn’t be more different. While the Munich team suffered an embarrassing 2-3 debacle at newly promoted Heidenheim, Xabi Alonso’s team took perhaps the penultimate step towards the German championship with a 1-0 win at Union Berlin.
Leverkusen is now unbeaten for 41 games in a row. The last defeat was almost a year ago (end of May 2023, 0-3 against Bochum). Bayern can only dream of that after two defeats in a row and four defeats in the last eight games. Union Berlin is running in Star Trek jersey against the league leaders (an advertising campaign by the jersey sponsor for a new season from the science fiction universe), but the teams’ performances this afternoon are not extraterrestrial. But still: Only Bayer Leverkusen is currently penetrating new galaxies in football Germany and they already have more unbeaten games in a row than the Munich team has ever managed.
The Werkself have been racing away from FC Bayern in the championship for weeks and months. Warp 10 there’s nothing wrong with that. Next weekend she could win the first German championship in the club’s history. Vizekusen, goodbye. In doing so, Leverkusen is doing like Starship Enterprise and exploring unknown territory: in the end they might not only win the trophy, but also celebrate an undefeated Bundesliga season. No other German team has achieved this before, including FC Bayern. An untouched planet. But that’s not all, because Leverkusen could break another mark. Without defeat on Thursday in the Europa League against West Ham United and on Sunday against Werder Bremen, the team would draw level with Juventus Turin (43 competitive games without defeat in 2011 and 2012) as the record holder in Europe.
Xhaka: “Everything is possible”
For Granit Xhaka, the possible record is no further incentive. For him, titles count: “The championship is not yet completely certain, so we have to do our job first,” says a highly concentrated Bayer captain in the catacombs and looks straight ahead: “The sooner we become champions, the more we can do “We’re concentrating on the Europa League.” He also remains realistic despite Munich’s 16-point lead: “It can happen that a team will beat us. It’s not that we’re completely unbeatable. But if we keep going like this – with this mentality, so down-to-earth – then everything is possible.” Also the record.
Of course, hardly anyone in Munich believes in the championship even before this match day. But the game in Heidenheim is extremely important, after all, we’re heading to London for the quarter-finals in the Champions League against Arsenal on Tuesday. The only real remaining chance for the title. But both Bayern and Leverkusen were able to develop real impact in the first half despite a dominant appearance. Until shortly before tea break.
While the record champions made it 2-0 with a double strike from Harry Kane (38th minute) and Serge Gnabry (45th), events in the Alte Försterei took over. Always the focus: Robin Gosens. Early on he roughly knocks Florian Wirtz off his feet and is shown yellow for it. Then Nathan Tella sends him into the pit again and again with feints Gamma quadrant. Even in the 45th minute, the national player was unable to hold off Leverkusen’s lively right winger. Near the baseline, he rustically knocks down his opponent before he can get into the penalty area. Yellow Red. Clear thing. Gosens trudges off the field, possibly thinking: “Please just beam me out of here, Scotty.”
Bayern embarrassment, Bayer aliens?
The subsequent free kick leads to confusion around the Köpenick team’s six-yard box, Piero Hincapie hits the post and Odilon Kossounou shoots in at the end. But the hit doesn’t count because Amine Adli touched the ball beforehand – and although she wasn’t offside, she was lying. But then things get mixed up Benjamin Brand and Christopher Trimmel are said to have played the ball with his elbow in the penalty area. The referee looks at the scene on the screen, gives a penalty (the Union captain doesn’t see a card because the shot he deflected illegally might not have gone into the goal) and Wirtz says: Thank you. 1:0. The Alte Försterei rages like an ion storm.
But then the big difference this season becomes clear: FC Bayern falls apart within a few minutes, Leverkusen brings the game home dominantly and calmly as usual for the Munich team. Shortly after the restart: In Köpenick they celebrate their Frederik Rönnow for one of his countless strong parades, because even with Star Trek jerseys, the keeper almost exclusively acts as a protective shield to prevent worse things from happening, otherwise the Union team are all inferior to the Leverkusen team. At the same time, Bayern scored two goals at FC Heidenheim (50th and 51st). Embarrassment within a minute.
We are who we are. Bavaria Gen. Where has the record champion’s self-evidence gone? Only the Leverkusen team seem almost invincible this season. As if they had stolen the winning gene from Munich. As if they were super-powerful aliens: resistance is pointless. Even if goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky made it clear after the game in the catacombs that his team was not out Borg aliens who are nihilistic, ruthless and strive for conquest and perfection at all costs: “We are human too,” says the goalkeeper, explaining that this time Bayer won’t win with hurray football, but with fight.
Bayern’s shambles before Arsenal game
Because after the impressive win against Düsseldorf during the week to reach the cup final, the Werkself are not delivering another storm. She achieves a victory and dominates the event with calm and resolute dominance. Even without the big shine. We have only been used to such performances from FC Bayern in recent years. And that’s exactly how a team manages to have a masterful and perhaps undefeated season, because delivering a highlight every game is not possible, even in distant galaxies.
However, when asked by ntv.de at the press conference after the game, Alonso explained that he didn’t want to know anything about the stolen “Mia san mia” in Leverkusen. Bavarian gene? Bayer gene! “We don’t need to compare ourselves and we have our own way,” says the coach, who is clearly in a good mood. “We always fight until the end, so we’ve collected a lot of good results throughout the season and were able to create a good team.”
In the 77th minute, Rönnow once again kept Union in the game when Wirtz found Tella in a switch situation, but the keeper was able to scratch the shot into the far corner. At the same time (79th), Heidenheim made it 3-2 against the record champions. When goalkeeper Rönnow stormed forward in Köpenick injury time, which no longer put Leverkusen in danger, Munich’s bankruptcy was already sealed for the newly promoted team. Bayern are in a shambles before the important premier class games and are experiencing the next debacle. This season there are more of them than in previous years combined (in 2024 alone, Tuchel’s men lost against Bremen, Bochum and Heidenheim). Frustration and question marks instead of Bayern gene.
Eberl chalks it up to “arrogance.”
“We have to honestly say that we are seven points ahead of fifth place, if I calculate it correctly,” raged Max Eberl in Heidenheim: “We should put this arrogance aside. Because ‘we’re already second, we’ll be second’ – We should make sure we come second.” According to the Bayern manager, his team is dealing with “a problem that has been a consequence of the last eleven years”.
Bayer Leverkusen’s dominance continues. For neutral observers, Xabi Alonso’s attacking football is a delight. But against Union, his footballers showed that they can also manage with fight and calmness. Nobody doubts anymore that the Werkself will win the trophy. There are only two questions left: When will the time come (there would be a sofa championship in the event of a Bayern defeat against Cologne on Saturday)? And will Wirtz and Co. become undefeated champions?
And in Munich? “You won’t really enjoy Shakespeare until you see him in the Klingon original read,” Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock were once taught in the movie “Star Trek VI – The Undiscovered Country.” Shakespeare in Klingon. This is what playing football feels like for FC Bayern at the moment. An exit against Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and The already worst possible season would end in a real disaster, while the Werkself advances into new galaxies that were previously unattainable even for the record champions.