Bayer Leverkusen crowned Bundesliga champions
Matt Ford reports from an ecstatic evening at the BayArena where Bayer Leverkusen thrashed Werder Bremen to become Bundesliga champions for the first ever time.
It's over. After 11 years of dominance by Bayern Munich, German football has a new champion. Bayer 04 Leverkusen have won the Bundesliga for the first ever time, wrapping up the title with a 5-0 win over Werder Bremen. Victor Boniface's first-half penalty provided the immediate spark, rockets from Granit Xhaka and Florian Wirtz put the game beyond doubt, and two more late Wirtz strikes prompted ecstatic pitch invasions before the referee blew the final whistle early amid a haze of smoke, noise, colour and sheer ecstasy.
For Leverkusen, it's a first major trophy since the 1993 German Cup and a first ever German championship after finishing second on five previous occasions. "We'll never be German champions!" sang the Nordkurve, revelling in an ironic reworking of a chant which has traditionally been aimed at them. Over an hour after the full-time whistle, they were still out on the pitch.
For chief executive Fernando Carro and director of sport Simon Rolfes, their gamble on Xabi Alonso 16 months ago has paid off quicker and more spectacularly than even they could have imagined. Carro has completely recalibrated the club, all of Rolfe's transfers have been hits and Alonso, in his first season as a first team head coach, has taken the team from second bottom to the very pinnacle.
Gegenpressing was at the BayArena to see history unfold.
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