Away from the buzz of the big three European leagues of England, Spain and Italy, a dramatic revolution is underway. A team led by a man seemingly destined to be one of the greatest coaches of this era is stitching together an “invincible” season of its own.
The team is Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen, who have finished runners-up in the Bundesliga a record five times but have never won it, and who, one season in 2002, managed to lose the Champions League final, the German Cup final, and the league title despite having a five-point lead with just three matches to go. That run earned them the unfortunate nickname Never-kusen.
The coach is the Spanish former football great Xabi Alonso, who, before he joined Leverkusen, had zero experience managing at the highest level. Previous stints saw him as coach of Real Madrid’s Under-13s, and as coach of the B team of another La Liga club, Real Sociedad.
When Alonso joined Leverkusen in October 2022, the club was languishing in 17th place. That season, the former Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder dragged them to a sixth-place finish. This season, they have played 38 matches without a loss (unbeaten in all competitions), and now sit atop the league chart with a yawning 10-point lead with less than 10 matches to go.
Alonso is determined to take the Never out of Never-kusen. He is doing this with a brand of football that is fast, thrilling, tactically mesmeric and, for those watching, pure visual pleasure. And with players that have come to the club for free, or almost that. The midfield pivot Granit Xhaka was considered surplus to requirements at his previous club. Wingback Alex Grimaldo shone at the La Masia youth academy, but was injured, shipped out to the Portuguese league and forgotten, before being picked up by Leverkusen for free. The striker Victor Boniface was plucked from a small Belgian club. The two young centrebacks, Odilon Kossounou and Edmond Tapsoba, were scouted from small Belgian and Portuguese clubs. Jonas Hofman, a veteran German midfielder with little star value, was picked for his ability to pull at the strings of whatever midfield he is part of. And the team is rounded off by a local who is one of the most exciting young midfielders in the world right now, Florian Wirtz, who has sensational dribbling skills.
To this colourful mix, Alonso has brought a vision that was forged in his playing days under some of the most legendary tacticians of the game. From Carlo Ancelotti, he learned how to adapt strategies to draw the best out of the players at hand, and how to give them freedom within a rigorous structure. From Jose Mourinho, he learnt how to shut shop. And from Pep Guardiola, three things — attack, attack and attack.
At its essence, Leverkusen play a very direct game, much like Alonso did during his stint at Real Madrid — quick transitions, and direct, pacy attacks with players joining in in waves. To do this, the team plays a fluid positional system, players slotting in and out of zones as the situation demands, controlled by the twin midfield pivots of Xhaka (whose prowess and style have much in common with Alonso’s) and the Argentine Exequiel Palacios. Up on the attacking third, there is the Puck-ish Wirtz with his bagful of trickery, making mazy runs with Hofman covering for the spaces he leaves open. And above them is the fast, physically imposing Boniface, making his own deadly runs into the opposition box.
Undoubtedly, the stars of this team and this system are the two wingbacks, Grimaldo and the Dutch Jeremie Frimpong, whose pace, vision and crossing accuracy have made them an absolute nightmare to others in the league (Grimaldo has the most assists in the league so far this season).
They also cover for each other like clockwork. When Grimaldo makes a forward run, Frimpong falls back on the right, and the back three each move one slot leftwards. Now you have a back four again. It’s the same thing in the opposite direction, when Frimpong makes his runs. It’s a simple idea, yet genius in its application.
One for all, and all for one. That’s Leverkusen for you.
