Perfect lawn is so important
Possible master pitch storm is a headache for Alonso
April 13, 2024, 11:44 a.m
The fans should be able to celebrate the historic title – and yet Bayer Leverkusen’s thoughts already go beyond the possible decision in the championship this Sunday. There are still important games in our own stadium, so storming the pitch is also a risk.
The grass is also part of the success: “We need a good pitch to play well,” said coach Xabi Alonso of triple contender Bayer Leverkusen, with a view to a possible storming of the pitch at the eventual championship party on Sunday (5.30 p.m./DAZN and in the ntv.de live ticker) against Werder Bremen. This can hardly be avoided, Leverkusen can become champions for the first time in the club’s history on this 29th matchday.
But Alonso warns souvenir hunters to be careful. “The most important thing is that we can celebrate something. The fans deserve it. But hopefully the pitch will be good afterwards. We still have a few games left, hopefully also in the Europa League,” said the 42-year-old. The home games in the final stretch of the season against VfB Stuttgart on April 27th and FC Augsburg (May 18th) would lose significance in the event of an early championship, but not the possible European Cup semi-finals. This would be against the winner of the Italian duel between AC Milan and AS Roma – after the 2-0 win in the quarter-final first leg against West Ham, the prospect of reaching it is good.
The green surface in the BayArena at home is a great bargaining chip for the dominant possession football under Alonso. The hybrid turf, which was laid in the summer of 2020 for around one million euros and, according to information from the “Bild” newspaper, costs around 800,000 euros annually to maintain, received the German Football League’s “Pitch of the Year” award for the second time in a row last August (DFL) and is again very popular this year.
“Our turf is a pound and that should be the case for the rest of the season,” said Simon Rolfes to “Bild” – the sports director also asks his own fans for a civilized celebration after the final whistle, should it come to that. The third possible title is currently being played in Berlin anyway: the venue for the DFB Cup final is traditionally the Olympic Stadium in the capital.