'NEVERKUSEN' CURSE UNDER THREAT BY XABI ALONSO

Across various parts of the world, football traditions and values exist, some of those existing in specific countries and federations. For example, the old-fashioned league structure in Europe’s top 5 leagues wasn’t adopted in the USA and European countries like Switzerland. The MLS and the Swiss Super League opted for an NBA-like approach of a regular season and a post-season tournament due to the miniature number of teams participating in their leagues.

Well, in Germany, the Herbstmeister (Autumn Champion) is a title (not an actual trophy) given to a team that leads the Bundesliga standings midway through the season. In the last two seasons, including the current season, Bayern Munich were denied that title after winning it consecutively between 2011 – 2019 with 2011 being the last year they won the Herbstmeister without winning the Bundesliga title.

RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund were handed this title in the past two seasons with Bayer Leverkusen winning it in the current season. What's the difference between this season and the past two seasons? It looks highly unlikely that Bayern Munich will win the Bundesliga title with Leverkusen now having stretched their unbeaten run to 35 games across all-competitions. The last match Xabi Alonso lost as manager was the last match of the 2022/23 season against Bochum.

Having taken over the club last October with the team languishing at the bottom, Alonso drove the team to an inspired 6^th place finish as they qualified for European football and finished their Europa League campaign in the semi-finals as Leverkusen lost to Jose Mourinho’s Roma team.

Since the start of the season, Leverkusen have looked unstoppable for most part of it. At this point of their campaign, they’re still in the running for all three competitions they’re involved in, reaching the knockout phases of the Europa League and the semi-final stage of the DFB Pokal while leading the Bundesliga standings by a clear 10 points.

WHAT COULD STOP LEVERKUSEN FROM WINNING THE TREBLE?

In the 2001/02 season, the famous term “Neverkusen” was coined. This was following an astonishing season where Bayer Leverkusen led the Bundesliga standings and reached the finals of the UEFA Champions League and DFB Pokal, only to lose all THREE competitions on the last day, leading to the German Football community believing that Leverkusen would never win any silverware from there on.

Since then, Leverkusen has indeed never won a single trophy, the closest they've come was finishing 2^nd behind league winners, Bayern, in the 2009/10 season, the last time Leverkusen were crowned the Herbstmeister.

Seems like Leverkusen have a lot to carry on their shoulders if superstitions and luck have anything to go by. Xabi Alonso and his men will have to remain focused and steadfast on the goal of winning a trophy as it’s starting to look like they’ll be the sole reason of their own demise in the 2023/24 season.

Leverkusen have 10 more league games to go, if Bayern Munich wins all of their remaining games and Leverkusen win 7 of their last 10 league games, Leverkusen will be crowned German Champions for the first time since their inception.