Leverkusen putting the ghosts of ‘Neverkusen’ to rest

Opinion

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This article was published 12/04/2024 (513 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The day before the 2002 World Cup final, Germany superstar Michael Ballack was faced with an awkward question. He likely knew it was coming.

Having picked up a yellow card in Die Mannschaft’s semifinal win over tournament co-hosts South Korea, in which he scored the only goal, the Bayer Leverkusen midfielder was asked about the booking that ruled him out of the showdown with Brazil.

“Maybe it’s a good omen that I won’t be there,” he replied.

Forty-five days earlier, Ballack’s Leverkusen side had lost the Champions League final to Real Madrid. The previous Saturday, they’d been defeated in the final of the DfB-Pokal by Schalke. And a week before that, the Bundesliga title had slipped from their seemingly tight grasp into the hands of Borussia Dortmund.

From a treble to nothing in less than three weeks. Little wonder the team had been nicknamed “Neverkusen.”

The collapse was so upsetting that German media worried about manager Rudi Voller’s inclusion of five Leverkusen players in his World Cup squad. They were totally shattered, the thinking went, and couldn’t be trusted to not implode yet again.

Brazil triumphed that Sunday, but with Ronaldo scoring twice and the likes of Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos among the Selecao, the result had nothing to do with omens, luck, Leverkusen or anything else. “Neverkusen,” however, stuck.

Twenty-two years later, it is about to become unstuck.

As early as today, Bayer Leverkusen will win their first Bundesliga shield. Both Bayern Munich and Stuttgart need to lose their Saturday matches for that to happen, but it doesn’t much matter. A win on Sunday at home to Werder Bremen (10:30 a.m., DAZN) is enough to secure the title, and they’ll almost certainly get it.

Leverkusen have yet to lose in Germany’s top flight this season and are six victories or draws from becoming the first team to go an entire schedule unbeaten.

It gets better. On May 25 they’ll play in just their fifth DfB-Pokal final and will lift it for only a second time if they can see off Kaiserslautern, currently 17th in the country’s second division. By then, they might also have contested the Europa League final in Dublin.

After Thursday’s 2-0 win over West Ham, they’ve got one foot in the semifinals where either AC Milan or AS Roma will await. The spectre of a final clash with Liverpool might have threatened their prospects in a first European showcase since the Real Madrid defeat, but the Reds were thumped by Atalanta during the week and are occupied with a gruelling title race in the Premier League.

In other words, Leverkusen are not only tantalizingly close to another treble but could also become the first team in history to complete a campaign unconquered in all competitions.

As if their record wasn’t impressive enough, they’ve also compiled it by playing some exhilarating stuff. No shut-up-shop football here. Whether dominating possession, scoring dramatic goals late in games or getting performances from the breadth of the squad, they’re the sort of team that rewards you for watching them.

Xabi Alonso is largely to thank for that.

The 42-year-old has used his first full season in management to establish himself as one of the sport’s brightest young coaches. His players adore him because he makes them special; the supporters worship him because he has completely rebuilt the club’s reputation.

“We have the passion to play,” remarked midfielder Granit Xhaka in Thursday’s post-match press conference. “We believe in ourselves — that we have the quality to score in every minute we can.”

“All the players have trusted him in how we play,” wing-back Jeremie Frimpong told TNT Sports this week. “You can see it on the pitch, how we’re always happy and like a team.”

Frimpong, incidentally, has been key to his manager’s tactical innovations.

When Leverkusen are in possession — which is a lot of the time — the Netherlands international darts forward as a striker, pairing with a teammate to overload a specific area while the opposite wing-back, Alex Grimaldo, remains in a defensive position. If the ball is on the other side of the pitch, the roles are reversed.

The result is an asymmetrical formation that knocks the opponent off balance. Quite impressively, Frimpong and Grimaldo have so far combined for 17 Bundesliga goals and 18 assists.

“I think we have controlled well — to find the right moment to press, when to wait, who could have the ball, who could not have the ball,” Alonso explained after February’s 3-0 demolition of Bayern, adding, “The team spirit at the moment is great.”

Ballack, for one, couldn’t agree more.

The player who lost everything there was to lose at Leverkusen is now, like almost everyone else, looking on in amazement as they close in on winning everything there is to win.

“If you watch Bayer Leverkusen play, it’s not just that they play good football,” he told Simon Jordan on the Up Front podcast earlier this month. “It’s also the team spirit they have.”

More than two decades on, “Neverkusen” is finished. These players, this manager and the club they’ve transformed has become “Neverlosekusen.”

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