April 14, 2024, is a special day destined to be written in the history of Bayer Leverkusen. The pharmaceutical company, which won its 25th game in the 29th round of the Bundesliga, finally fulfilled the dream of stars such as Ze Roberto and Ballack many years ago and won the first Bundesliga championship in the 120-year history of the team.
And the 42-year-old Spanish coach Xavi Alonso, who took over the team halfway through last season, is undoubtedly the biggest contributor to the pharmaceutical company's ability to make history. The midfielder, who played for Real Sociedad, Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich during his playing days, was known for his precision and long-range shooting, and in his full rookie season, he surprised everyone and not only led the team to history, but also personally pulled his old club Bayern Munich from the throne of the 11th consecutive Bundesliga title.
Alonso's coaching career began at the youth level of Real Sociedad and was recruited by the pharmaceutical company just one season later, with the 42-year-old taking charge of the senior team for the first time. After taking over halfway through last season, Alonso led the team to the semi-finals of the Europa League, only to lose 1-0 on aggregate over two legs against Roma and miss out on the chance to reach the final. This defeat against Mourinho, who had coached him at Real Madrid, also became a rare exercise on Alonso's coaching journey.
At the start of the season, with the likes of Xhaka, Grimaldo, Bonifes, Stanišić, Hoffmann and Nathan Tra, and 20-year-old German prodigy Wirtz recovering from a cruciate ligament rupture, Alonso led the new Bayer Leverkusen to conquer the Bundesliga with victory after victory.
At the start of the season, the pharmaceutical began their magical journey with a wave of three consecutive wins, and then they relied on Palacios' stoppage-time penalty to draw 2-2 away to Bayern with Kane. From the beginning of this contest with the Bundesliga king, the pharmaceutical company started the Bundesliga run mode under the leadership of Alonso, and they successfully reached the top of the standings with a wave of 8 consecutive wins!
So far this season, Bayer Leverkusen have won 25 and drawn 4 in 29 league games, and the opponents of 4 draws are Bayern, Dortmund, Stuttgart and Borussia Mönchen, all of which are middle and upper Bundesliga teams. In 29 games, Bayer Leverkusen scored 74 goals and conceded only 19 goals, not only is the offensive firepower very strong, but the team's defensive quality has also set a record in recent years in the Bundesliga.
Due to the outstanding performance of the team, Alonso has also been favored by many European giants. His old clubs Bayern and Liverpool have thrown olive branches to him, but the calm Alonso personally announced that he will continue to stay in the pharmaceutical factory next season, which undoubtedly injected a boost to Leverkusen at the critical stage of winning the championship. After that, the team started a winning streak again, and finally won the Bundesliga with a wave of eight consecutive wins.
And Alonso, who has only experienced his first full season, just like his former mentors Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola and Mourinho, announced to the world with his first league championship trophy that there is another master tactician and champion coach in world football.