Bayer Leverkusen have won their first-ever Bundesliga title thanks to a 5-0 win over Werder Bremen on Sunday.
Despite there being six game weeks of football left in the 2023/24 season, heading into this weekend Xabi Alonso’s side needed just one more win to secure the BuLi title thanks to their stunning form throughout the campaign. Leverkusen went into the game against Werder Bremen on Sunday having not tasted defeat once throughout the entirety of the campaign – both domestically and on the continent.
And, as expected, Leverkusen made light work of the game at the Bay Arena, bagging the win thanks to goals from Victor Boniface, Granit Xhaka and a hat-trick from Florian Wirtz.
In the 23rd minute, Leverkusen deservedly got their opening goal courtesy of a penalty kick awarded following a silly challenge from on Jonas Hofmann in the box. Up stepped Victor Boniface to take the resulting spot kick, and he made no mistake – firing low into the net.
Leverkusen came close to putting the game to bed late in the first half through Yacine Adli, with the forward cannoning off the crossbar from inside the box after being found by Hofmann with a clever cross.
On the hour mark, Alonso’s side got the all-important second goal. Said goal would come courtesy of ex-Arsenal man Granit Xhaka, who curled the ball wonderfully into the top left corner of the net from fully 30 yards out.
Not too long after, it was 3-0. Star man Florian Wirtz was next to get on the scoresheet, rifling the ball into the roof of the net from just outside the penalty area.
Wirtz bagged his second and third goal of the game late on, racing through and curling into the net on two separate occasions to send the Bay Arena fans into rapture
Remarkably, this is the first time Leverkusen have ever won the league title, finishing as unfortunate runners-up on five occasions previously – most famously in 2001/02 when a Michael Ballack-led team also made it the UEFA Champions League and DFB-Pokal finals.
Having now secured the title, Alonso’s side now have a chance to win a famous treble this season. Leverkusen have already booked their place in the DFB-Pokal final – in which they’ll face 1. FCK – and are on the brink of the UEFA Europa League semi-finals after beating West Ham 2-0 in the first leg of their quarter-final clash last week.