The T-shirts had already been printed. Red fumes filled the air as fireworks were set off on the road leading into the BayArena, which had been re-named ‘Xabi Alonso Allee’ (Xabi Alonso Avenue) for the day.
For the first time in their history, Bayer Leverkusen are the champions of Germany – and they did it in style.
With 16 points separating themselves, Bayern Munich and Stuttgart going into last weekend, it had been clear for a number of weeks that it was only a matter of time before Leverkusen finally shed their ‘Neverkusen’ nickname.
It was given to them after they let the Bundesliga title slip from their grasp in both the 1999-2000 and 2001-2002 seasons. They have been the perennial runners-up of German football. The nearly men.
Alonso will go down in history as the one who ended 120 years of hurt, who ended Bayern’s 11-year domination and he may go down as the first ever manager to lead a Bundesliga side to an unbeaten season. It is now 43 games and counting.
While there was a carnival-like atmosphere in this small city, home to less than 170,000 people, Leverkusen’s painful history of title collapses meant there was always going to be a small seed of doubt until the job was done. They need not have worried.
Werder Bremen had the chance to spoil the party, though many of their fans were of the opinion that, if their team was going to be beaten, at least they would be part of history.
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