You just don’t get nervous. Rarely have the declarations of war and disruptive maneuvers from Munich been as unsuccessful as they are currently at Bayer Leverkusen.
“I think half of them don’t even know what Bayern’s result was against Mainz,” said captain Lukas Hradecky when asked whether his team had been unsettled by FC Bayern’s 8-1 defeat the day before. And after the 2-0 win against VfL Wolfsburg, sports director Simon Rolfes only responded with a broad smile when asked whether the pithy words from Munich and the interest in Bayer coach Xabi Alonso bothered him. And a clear: “No!”
The fact that these are not just words can also be seen on the field. The Leverkusen team did not have the same shine and offensive power of previous months in the last few games. But they were also far from a defeat in the league. What was particularly impressive was how confident and calm the Werkself acted against the opponents’ increasingly massive defensive bulwarks.
No look at Munich
“Sometimes like in handball,” there was a majority for around an hour on Sunday, said Rolfes. But his team remained undeterred and didn’t allow their opponents any chances. Nine games before the end of the season, the lead over Bayern remains ten points. Midfield leader Granit Especially because of the long majority, “the fans would certainly have liked more goals. But if you win 6-0 or 7-0, that’s only three points.” And an 8:1 too.
Hradecky was probably just fibbing; the news of the Munich Goal Festival must have reached the team. But it apparently had no effect. “That’s just the positive attitude that we have,” said the captain and goalkeeper: “Everyone does an excellent job, then goes home and enjoys life.”
Xhaka also assured that they were not looking at Munich at all. “I’m just not interested in that,” said the Swiss. “But that has nothing to do with arrogance,” he assured. His team naturally has self-confidence after 36 competitive games without defeat, “if someone doesn’t have self-confidence after this season, they’re in the wrong sport.” But concentrating on your own strengths is the secret to success. “We deserve to be where we are because until today we have only looked at ourselves,” said Xhaka: “And as long as we just keep doing our job, we don’t care about the other results.” One thing is clear: “The fewer games there are, the better it is for us.”
Alonso: “We know what we have to do”
When asked when he wanted to start talking about a possible championship, coach Alonso replied: “April.” The Spaniard, once national champion with Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern, exemplifies pure composure. Same on Sunday. “We didn’t play spectacularly, we didn’t take too many risks,” he said: “We wanted to play with patience. The second didn’t fall early, but it fell.” It happened in the 86th minute, and even the former world and European champion Alonso described Florian Wirtz’s goal from a direct pass after a dream pass from Exequiel Palacios as “simply crazy”.
In the direction of Munich, Alonso, himself Bayern’s object of desire to succeed the outgoing Thomas Tuchel, sent a clear message: “We know what we have to do. We have a clear idea and a clear plan.” He himself “of course saw” the 8-1 win against Mainz. But it didn’t do anything to him. Bayern international Leon Goretzka said after the massive win: “If Leverkusen still gets a little afraid of winning, it’s our job to be there.”
Alonso knows the games from Munich and he is currently making Bayer the better Bayern. Who continue on their path undeterred. And so Hradecky ultimately drew the decisive conclusion: “And again it’s one weekend less.”
