Duro Ikhazuagbe
Nigerian international, Victor Boniface, won the German Bundesliga in his first season with Bayer Leverkusen yesterday. It was Leverkusen’s first time-ever to lift the German league title.
It was also the first time in 11 years that perennial winner, Bayern Munich were denied the title.
The Super Eagles forward set the ball rolling with his first goal of the day as Leverkusen hammered Werder Bremen 5-0 to claim the title with 79 points from 29 matches. Granite Xhaka added the second in the 60th while Florian Wirtz’s hat trick in the 68th, 83rd and 90th ensured that the celebration kicked off in ernest.
It was 16 points advantage over second placed Bayern Munich on 63 points.
Xabi Alonso’s runaway leaders wrapped up the title in style with five games to spare with fans trooping into the main-bowl of the Bay Arena to celebrate their first Bundesliga title in the club’s 120-year history.
Leverkusen, who could yet complete the first-ever unbeaten season in the Bundesliga, become the first team to beat Bayern to the German top flight since Jurgen Klopp led Borussia Dortmund to consecutive titles in 2011 and 2012.
Alonso’s side thrashed Bayern 3-0 in February to open up a five-point lead in the title race, a gap that grew into a chasm as the champions unravelled under Thomas Tuchel following a series of shock defeats in the spring.
Alonso, a World Cup-winning midfielder with Spain who lifted major titles at Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern, joined Leverkusen in October 2022 with the side 17th in the table after just one win from their first eight matches of the season.
In what is his first managerial role, Alonso’s impressive work at Leverkusen made him the target of some of Europe’s biggest teams, including his former clubs Liverpool and Bayern.
Alonso has already put that speculation to rest, however, confirming last month that he had decided to stay with Leverkusen next season. The 42-year-old said he has “much more to do” before his work at the club is complete.
As well as attempting to go the full 34-game season unbeaten, a feat never before achieved in the history of Germany’s top flight, Leverkusen could also find the treble by adding the German Cup and Europa League trophies next month.
Leverkusen will play FC Kaiserslautern, a side currently fighting relegation from the second-tier Bundesliga 2, in the German Cup final on May 25, while they will take a 2-0 lead into the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final against West Ham United.
