Well, the Bundesliga race is basically over. Leverkusen is all but guaranteed to win it.
Premier League is enthralling, though. Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal all vying desperately for points and within a hair of each other.
What’s remarkable about it is that Leverkusen will be the first champion after 11 consecutive Bayern wins. Also, they will get rid of their nicknames Vizekusen or Neverkusen, respectively, and have very good chances to also win the DFB Cup and the Euroleague, and deservedly so, they are playing a dream season and are still unbeaten after 42 games. Maybe they will play a perfect season without any defeat at all, something even Bayern never managed.
One of the best title races in the last 20 years, I think. Three team 71, 71 and 70 points with six to play. And none playing each other.
And Leverkusen does it. They’re leading 4-0 over Werder Bremen with only minutes to go and will win their first Bundesliga Championship after 45 years in that league, and the first non-Bayern champions in 11 years. Goodbye, Neverkusen…
ETA: game over, 5-0, Leverkusen champion, thanks to a hattrick by super talent Florian Wirtz.
And good for Alonso for staying on, I love that he wants to hang around for the champions league and another campaign.
I think a great part of why he hangs on it that he’s in love with his team. I can’t remember any German team ever playing such a season (they’re now at their 43rd undefeated match, which is a European record), and they play such a beautiful football.
ETA: if you think about it, it’s crazy. Xabi Alonso storms through the Bundesliga in his only second year of coaching a top league club and making Leverkusen champion, and at the same time all his ex-clubs as a player where he’s a legend, and which are all top European clubs, Bayern, Barca and Liverpool, are desperately looking for a new coach. He might have made the best contract a coach ever had, but no, he stays in Leverkusen, a town 165,000 that’s not much more than the Bayer company and a suburb of Cologne.
Finally. Someone replaced Bayern. I’m not even a Dortmund fan but I was annoyed the yellow-and-black couldn’t get it done last year. Congrats Leverkusen.
Meanwhile, to my annoyance, Man City won today. I’m hoping Arsenal can put a stop to the Liverpool-Man City duopoly.
Um - Arsenal went 49 unbeaten in 03-04…
Thanks for the correction. I was relying on German media that stated that the old record was held by Juve with 43 unbeaten games, now equalized by Leverkusen.
ETA: wait, was Arsenal unbeaten for 49 games in one season? Because that’s what the Leverkusen record is supposed to be.
Ah, sorry - different records then. Arsenal went a season unbeaten in the league, and had a few more unbeaten league games either side of that season to make 49. They lost some cup matches during that time.
Are Leverkusen unbeaten in all competitions this season then? That’s probably even more impressive.
Yes, they are, in the Bundesliga (25 wins, 4 draws), in the DFB Cup (only wins, facing a final against second league team Kaiserslautern) and in the Euroleague (1 draw).
Looking unlikely (says this depressed Arsenal fan). And it’s not really a duopoly… Liverpool only won one title to City’s 5 over the last 6 years. It’s a nation-state-backed money-fueled monopoly.
Shame about the Arsenal.
Bayern and Dortmund both advancing to the semi-finals, making a rematch of the 2013 final at Wembley possible.
Xabi Alonso didn’t play for Barca, but Real Madrid. Thinking of Xavi, their current coach?
Of course you’re right, now I’m embarrassed, I confused Barca with Real. I think there were rumors during this season that Ancelotti might leave Real, and Alonso was named as a probable successor. I think I had that in mind, and confused Xavi definitely leaving Barca with Ancelotti allegedly leaving Real. Brainfart.
Well, Xavi is leaving, so Barca do want a coach. I’d be thrilled if they got Alonso. Would be pretty controversial I think. I think Rafa Marquez is the leading candidate atm though.
City-Madrid going to penalties 
And Real does it. No Premier League club in the semi-finals.
Happy to see City going out, whom I dislike even more than the very dislikable Real Madrid.
Unhappy to see the mighty Arsenal fall though 
However they are the youngest team in the competition and it was their first CL for ages. Always difficult to go far when you have no experience. With another season and a couple more signings they will be better.