It turned out that the current Leverkusen cannot be beaten. Even when she was on the verge of embarrassing losses to the Azeri Karabakh in the Europa League, she did not lose her temper, continued to play patiently in her style, and found a way to celebrate at the end. Patrick Schick made it 2:2 in the 93rd minute of the away game, and scored a brace in injury time to complete a maddening comeback at home and win 2:3. The Czech, who has suffered from too many injuries, returned to fitness to lead the charge just as Boniface was injured earlier this year – a coincidence that showed how much luck had favored Leverkusen, as if to make up for everything that had happened in the past.
Of course, such a dream season is impossible without a superstar, and Leverkusen has one. And maybe it’s symbolic that Florian Wirtz was born in 2003, and didn’t even exist when Leverkusen lost the titles in 2000 and 2002. To add this genius, Leverkusen broke the gentleman’s agreement that lasted two decades – she “stole” him from the academy of the regional rival Cologne, although the unwritten law forbade it. Already after his debut in the Bundesliga at the age of 17, it was clear that this was brilliance on an unusual scale, but then came the “punishment”, because the playmaker tore ligaments in his knee and missed almost the entire year of 2022. It hurt Leverkusen badly last season, but this season he was fit, and rightly so For now, his balance stands at 11 goals and 10 assists in the league.
Xabi Alonso left him on the bench yesterday, along with the excellent Grimaldo and Frimpong, to save their strength for Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final second leg against West Ham, but all played a part in the Championship game. Wirtz came on at halftime, and managed to score a hat trick in a 0:5 win over Bremen, in which Xhaka was also honored to score with a spectacular kick.
Instead of biting your nails and failing in the final round like before, the title was secured in mid-April, with a spectacular goal show. 25 wins and 4 draws in 29 rounds – this is an unusual and unimaginable balance. This is the Berkusen of the season, and now we just have to wait and see if it will make European history and finish the season without a loss in all formats. She will meet Kaiserlautern from the bottom of the second division in the cup final, and the road to winning the Europa League also looks promising. A treble without losses has never happened. It would be appropriate if the current Leverkusen did so, and in any case Leverkusen it will no longer be. That word left the lexicon immediately.
