Leverkusen completely messed up the German championship. Among Riemu’s supporters, there was also disbelief, writes Urheilu’s editor Jussi Vainikka.
Jussi Vainikka sports reporter
LEVERKUSEN.
It required a third goal, until a banner with a succinct message appeared in the Leverkusen supporters’ end.
Deutscher Meister – German Champion.
120 years of football is a long time to wait for the greatest achievement of German football, but the dream came true in Leverkusen on Sunday. Joy was the overriding emotion, but there was also disbelief on people’s faces. This moment, the Bundesliga championship, had to be waited for so long in a city known for its pharmaceutical factory.
The fourth goal in the match against Werder Bremen caused chaos and the Fifth ended the match a few seconds before the 90 minutes were up. The game was clear, and thousands of people already ran to the field. The referee blew his whistle for sanity and safety reasons.
Huhkaji goalkeeper, captain Lukas Hradecky took over the show as usual and appeared in interviews on different channels with a bottle of beer in his hand in honor of the celebration. A British journalist amusedly updated in the stadium’s media rooms how Hradecky cursed him in his interview not just once, but three timesi.
In Finland, this would not be very special, but in the British Isles, this is not tolerated, and the journalist has to apologize for the use of language to the viewers during the live broadcast. Hradecky is not interested – he sticks to his style and not least at the moment of the championship.
Speaking of style, Hradecky was able to take the mic as captain an hour after the end of the match, when the entire Leverkusen team got on stage in the VIP stand at the other end of the stadium. Hradecky shouted the traditional German chant, which he practiced already two months ago after the victory against Bayern Munich.
If the words were about applying last time, they didn’t go perfectly this time either – but what does that matter.
The home crowd’s biggest favorite was undoubtedly the head coach Xabi Alonso. The traditional Spanish song Que Viva España came out of the crowd for the first time quickly after the final whistle. That’s why the Spanish media burst into joy.
The speech of the head coach, who won everything possible as a player, received the biggest applause from the supporters, and the players also surprised Alonso with a decent beer bath at the press conference.
The huge popularity of Alonso, who came to Leverkusen in the middle of last season, shows that the signposts on the street leading to the stadium were covered with new stickers by the fans. Perhaps with the championship, the street will even officially become Xabi-Alonso-Allee.
The first championship can only be won once, and in Leverkusen it came in a fairy-tale way. The team is still undefeated. A dominating 5–0 victory was just the icing on the cake.
For the locals, it was perfect that the championship was decided on their home field. There were thousands of supporters on the stadium’s grass for almost two hours after the match ended. One of Leverkusen’s and Germany’s biggest player legends also seemed relieved in the media rooms Michael Ballackwho was part of a team that lost several titles by chalk lines at the turn of the millennium.
Hradecky could hardly have hoped for better in his wildest dreams. Hradecky’s spouse and the newest member of the family also got to celebrate in the dressing room with the rest of the team members and their families.
Quite a first football match for the daughter, born in January, wearing her father’s jersey.