Xabi Alonso was only briefly surprised about the late final whistle, then the successful Bayer Leverkusen coach quickly switched back to his usual celebration mode. The Spaniard and his players celebrated the deserved 2-0 (1-0) against VfL Wolfsburg, with which Leverkusen took the next step towards the championship title. The goal scorers Nathan Tella and Florian Wirtz danced arm in arm in front of the fan curve and sang “front runners, front runners.”
Despite the strain of travel during the week, Leverkusen remained unbeaten in the 36th competitive game of the season, and the lead over pursuers Bayern Munich remains a comfortable ten points nine games before the end of the season. “I’m glad we left the three points here. It wasn’t easy – but overall it was well deserved,” said Leverkusen’s Granit Xhaka on DAZN: “We stayed very focused.”
Nathan Tella (37th) scored the opening goal after brilliant preparatory work by Alejandro Grimaldo, then Florian Wirtz (86th) increased the lead for the leaders, who had been in the majority for a long time, and who achieved their 21st win of the season (a club record) – as many as Bayern in the last year’s championship season overall. The record champions had shot down FSV Mainz 05 8-1 the day before and hoped that Leverkusen would slip up – ultimately in vain.
Instead, the Werkself continued to collect records: with 25 unbeaten league games in a row, Alonso’s team surpassed its own record from the 2009/10 season under Jupp Heynckes.
After the yellow-red card for Moritz Jenz, Wolfsburg played outnumbered from the 28th minute onwards and remains in 13th place. The lead over 1. FC Köln in the relegation zone is only seven points for coach Niko Kovac’s team.
The Bayer fans greeted their derby winners from the previous week (2-0 in Cologne) euphorically with pyrotechnics and fireworks when the bus arrived. Compared to the lucky 2-2 draw in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Europa League on Thursday at Qarabag Agdam, Alonso rotated back and relied on Granit Xhaka, Florian Wirtz and Patrik Schick, who had been spared for a long time in Baku, from the start.
“We need good guys,” Alonso emphasized after the longest European Cup trip in the club’s history and a total of 6,400 kilometers by air in 56 hours. And there was little sign of fatigue right from the start. EM hopeful Wirtz in particular turned up the heat, hit the post (22nd) and could only be stopped by fouls. Jenz (12th) was shown a yellow card early on after a tactical jersey pull – only to have to leave the field a little later after kicking Schick with the traffic light card.
Kovac reacted, bringing on central defender Sebastiaan Bornauw for his only nominal striker Jonas Wind – but the defensive bulwark only lasted just under nine minutes. Grimaldo left his opponent Lovro Majer standing with a backheel trick, Tella had an easy time of it after the chip header. In the stands, numerous cardboard championship bowls were raised towards the evening sky.
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In the last 15 duels between Bayer and Wolfsburg, the hosts had never won – but it really didn’t look like that in the BayArena, which was full except for the visitors’ block, at halftime. The favorite restricted the offensively harmless guests in the final third, but remained without any really top-class chances. So at least the result remained exciting – until Wirtz struck with a direct acceptance.