Leverkusen are set to lose in the title as Alonso shows he is far from a one-third pony

Bayer Leverkusen the head coach Xabi Alonso Exequiel Palacios after the 2-0 win over Cologne.Photo: Ronald Wittek/EPA” src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/sGDxEivNa4VhQpOd0t79WA–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU3Ng–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/theguardian_763/17a8214c5c191e97d68a1b3fb37a890c” data-s rc= “https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/sGDxEivNa4VhQpOd0t79WA–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU3Ng–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/theguardian_763/17a8214c5c191e97d68a1b3fb37a890c”/>

Will the race for the Bundesliga be over before the spring? Of course. Plus to change, wake me up when it’s summer and all the rest. This time, however, it is not Bayern Munich calling the inn but the entire team, Bayer Leverkusen.

Sunday’s win down the road at Cologne did for Leverkusen what Harry Kane’s winner against Bayern had prevented at Leipzig the previous weekend. Unbeaten Leverkusen now sit just 10 points clear of the reigning champions at the top. Granit Xhaka, who has had a huge impact on the champions-elect all season (we can say, even if they can’t) later warned of his experience at the forefront playing for the division’s superpower at Arsenal last season. “I explain to them what happened,” he told ESPN’s Archie Rhind-Tutt about his discourse with his teammates, “but you can’t explain with words. You have to feel it.”

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If there was one moment in Cologne when it felt like the tide could still turn, it came six minutes into the second half. The home side were even more up against him than they could have expected, reduced to 10 men in the 14th minute when Jan Thielmann studded the back of Xhaka’s calf (irate but contained). But in the 51st minute Köln were still in it, a goal that was down to Jeremie Frimpong’s attacker but he was in no way drowned, fighting hard and as intelligent as a resolution, which did not look as given in (over) the first half. in which their frustration at the perceived injustice of Thielmann’s dismissal often threatened to arise.

The strugglers hardly had the chance to dream. Sargis Adamyan, the striker who did not start one Effzeh23 Bundesliga games before this season, although his team-mates scored 16 bad goals between them, Rasmus Carstensen received a cross from the right; right behind him, but he hit him right in front of the penalty spot with an instep volley as he tumbled. He beat Lukas Hradecky, hit the inside post, before a grateful Hradecky and Frimpong parried the ball out and the home side’s chance for a famous equalizer – and perhaps a result – came and went.

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There have been very few moments this season where Leverkusen have managed to score any luck, but this was one. They collected themselves quickly and their other wing, Álex Grimaldo, rubbed it with a second. This was them finding yet another way to win a game – often taking control of possession over their opponents. They beat Bayern at their BayArena by letting Thomas Tuchel’s team have the ball and pick them off. Here, they faced a strong challenge from inferior opponents and committed in the enthusiasm of Derby, and refused to be ruffled, or encouraged; Jonathan Tah later spoke of Leverkusen trying to get the opener “too quickly” after Thielmann’s red, but in the second half “much better”, “using the spaces and sharing them through the ball move at speed”. Xabi Alonso and his ultra-responsible players are far from one-trick ponies.

Leverkusen are having a lot of fun that you have little doubt about Bayern’s expected insistence on Sunday evening. With all of Xhaka’s warning, this Leverkusen is different from last season’s Arsenal and, at least as importantly, this Bayern is certainly not Manchester City. After coming back from a goal down on Friday night at Freiburg, scored from range by Christian Günter, Tuchel’s side were ahead going into the final minutes after good strikes from Mathys Tel and Jamal Musiala, two players who should have been want to be a part of it. a better future.

But they carelessly walked away with two points, leaving their low-key nemesis Lucas Höler free to volley a sweet equalizer past Manuel Neuer with three minutes of normal time to go, in standard form. should be easily defensible- in situation. “We did things that we had never practiced before, that we had never talked about,” said a beleaguered Tuchel. If we already know that Bayern are looking for a new coach for next season, it seems that their current one does not even want the disconnection between his discourse and what the players are showing on to hide the field. If the latest of an unimaginable season takes place on Tuesday night and Bayern are knocked out of the Champions League by Lazio at the Allianz Arena, it would be no surprise that the glum gates of the teams before their scheduled departure date.

Freiburg 2-2 Bayern Munich, Wolfsburg 2-3 Stuttgart, Darmstadt 0-6 August, Mainz 1-1 Mönchengladbach, Bochum 1-4 Leipzig, Union Berlin 0-2 Dortmund, Heidenheim 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt, Hoffenheim 2-1 Werder Bremen, Cologne 0-2 Bayer Leverkusen

Bayern, therefore, must look ahead. With Alonso starting to realize what seemed like an impossible dream, what if that name was to rule the left field, but a familiar name from the past? On Saturday evening in Lower Saxony, Stuttgart managed to reach third place with a win at Wolfsburg. If not Alonso, Stuttgart’s Sebastian Hoeness would certainly be the coach for the season. The former Hoffenheim manager was the last throw of the dice 11 months ago, VfB coach last fourth shambolic campaign that requires a playoff to avoid relegation to the second tier. Now, with far fewer resources than any of the competition, Hoeness is breaking records at the other end of the table.

What he led Stuttgart to is amazing. They have never had 50 points after 24 Bundesliga games, even when they last won the title, in 2007. Only two teams with so many points in the bank at this stage have failed to finish in the top two highest game, and none of them failed. to reach the top four, so there is a mathematical context to Deniz Undav’s praise during the week that it is not “smart” to deny Stuttgart’s Champions League credentials.

A Munich-born, Munich-born candidate to tackle the breach next season won’t take the wildest imagination. This young coach rising quickly could reaffirm his commitment to Stuttgart but when your father [Dieter] and uncle [Uli] synonymous with Bayern and the latter perhaps the most influential personality in the club’s history, the family name is hard to hide. Not to mention Sebastian’s successful season as coach of Bayern’s second team in 2019-2020, leading them to the 3.Liga title.

“I can’t help the speculation,” Hoeness Jr told Sky after his full-time move to Wolfsburg. “It’s not difficult for me [to say] because I feel completely comfortable at VfB and working with the boys is a lot of fun.” But Stuttgart has clear limits. Top scorers Serhou Guirassy and Undav (on loan from Brighton) may be gone next season. There are financial realities, even with the unexpected Champions League bounty. Who wants to be left cleaning up the mess the morning after the party?

A quick peek on the other bench, on the other hand, Hoeness pointed out that in training, time is everything. Wolfsburg sporting director Sebastian Schindzielorz spent Saturday night trolling Niko Kovac on ZDF’s Aktuelle Sportstudio (“we stand by him”) but it was clear the end is almost certain for what could have been a former Bayern coach’s day this compared to Bayern’s future coach. . Perhaps Tuchel should reflect on Kovac’s current career arc. Currently only Leverkusen provides certainty in Bundesliga circles.