On the way to their first championship title, draws are not enough for Bayer Leverkusen. So coach Xabi Alonso’s team will also play for a win against Bochum at the end of the year. But a draw would be enough for a record.
Bayer goes into the European Championship year as Bundesliga leaders. This is already clear before Wednesday’s home game against VfL Bochum, as pursuers Bayern Munich will not play their catch-up game against Union Berlin until January. However, it is still unclear whether the Leverkusen team will go into the new year as the sole starting record holder.
25 competitive games without defeat would be the starting record
Hamburger SV managed not to lose 24 competitive games in a row in the 1982/83 season. The 1-2 defeat in the DFB Cup round of 16 against Hertha BSC on December 17, 1982 was the first defeat of the season for HSV. Leverkusen has already drawn level with 24 competitive games without defeat and can now overtake Bochum in the home game.
Granit The Bayer record is particularly important for Xhaka because it would bring him another step closer to a championship title in one of Europe’s top leagues. To date he has only been champion in Switzerland with FC Basel. The 31-year-old celebrated cup victories with Arsenal FC, but no championships.
Xhaka gambles away the title with Arsenal in the final stretch of the season
Things were particularly bitter for him in the Premier League last season: after 15 games, Arsenal had 40 points, one more than Bayer now, and led the table with an eight-point lead over Manchester City after 29 match days. At the end of the season, after 38 games, they were five points behind – and the dream of their first championship since 2004 was dashed.
To ensure that something similar doesn’t happen to him again in Leverkusen, he put the brakes on his euphoria a little after the 3-0 win against Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday: “Nothing has been won yet. After six months, nobody has won the title yet. We have to be careful “What we’re doing on vacation. And then we’re heading into the new year at full speed.” In the meantime, title dreams are legitimate: “Sure, you can dream. We are currently going through a phase that is brutally beautiful for every Leverkusen fan, for us players, and indeed for everyone at the club,” said Xhaka.
Xhaka is looking forward to his first winter break in seven years
But Xhaka also warns. In the Premier League, the last eight games of the season would have been enough to lose the title: “That’s why I speak from experience. Because I know what it feels like to be up there and not win in the end.” Everything in football can change overnight, which is why Bayer has to “continue working with both feet on the ground.”
Work also needs to be done during the upcoming Christmas holidays, which Xhaka is “probably looking forward to most in the entire club” because he doesn’t know it from his time on the island. The games were played there over Christmas: “After seven years, finally having a winter break again is very good for me and my family. In the last few years I have mostly played on December 26th and 28th and also on January 1st.” That’s why he will “enjoy the vacation. But I will also try to come back as fit as possible so that I can continue playing at this level.”
