LEVERKUSEN, Germany (AP) — How do you follow up an historic upset?
That's the question facing Xabi Alonso and Bayer Leverkusen as they seek to prove they belong among European soccer's top teams after ending Bayern Munich's 11-year reign in the German league last season.
Leverkusen has kept together almost all of the key players who won the Bundesliga unbeaten last year, lifted the German Cup and nearly the Europa League trophy too. Still, it faces constant questions over how long key figures like Alonso and star player Florian Wirtz might stay.
Sustainable success
“What we did last year was quite unique, so we had an idea that we wanted to be sustainable in our success,” Alonso said Friday.
The big test comes Saturday as Vincent Kompany's Bayern Munich visits Leverkusen with an eight-point lead over Alonso's team. Alonso said Friday it's “not a final." Still, a win for Bayern would be a heavy blow to Leverkusen's faltering title defense.
Compared to the Bayern team coached by Thomas Tuchel that Alonso's Leverkusen swept aside 3-0 a year ago, Kompany's team is “another Bayern,” Alonso said.
“They are destroying many, many opponents,” he added. “They win some games easily. They have this collective dominance and they have this individual quality,” listing players like forwards Harry Kane, Michael Olise and Jamal Musiala.
Alonso is unbeaten against Bayern as a coach in five games — most recently a 1-0 cup win in December — and has a habit of springing tactical surprises on his rivals from Munich.
Building momentum
So what does sustainable success look like for Bayer Leverkusen? Chief executive Fernando Carro argues that finishing in the Bundesliga's top four each season, qualifying for the Champions League and reaching the last 16 is a reasonable target.
“I think it would be difficult having the resources we have in mind to be able to compete every year with Bayern Munich with three times more resources, so there we have to be realistic,” he told The Associated Press on Friday.
"We want to challenge them, we want to fight for the titles every year, but we know that there’s a certain fluctuation. For us, sustainable means top four."
Keeping the team together
When smaller teams win big prizes, their squads are often picked apart within weeks by wealthier clubs. Not so at Leverkusen, which has kept the core of Alonso's squad — attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz, wing back Jeremie Frimpong, and indeed Alonso himself.
The coach, who stayed last year amid interest from Bayern and Liverpool and is contracted through next year, hasn't addressed his long-term future but said Friday he feels a special bond with Leverkusen. “The team, the club, the environment, the special nights that we have had, the games in the stadium give you this energy, this top commitment to keep going,” he said.
Managing director for sport Simon Rolfes says the key is to always keep the focus on new targets.
“It’s important for these ambitious guys to create an ambitious environment," he said. “They can have together success as a team but as well individually,”
Rolfes said Leverkusen draws on existing players to attract new talent, saying the prospect of learning from Kai Havertz — who left for Chelsea for over $90 million in 2020 — was a factor encouraging Wirtz to join Leverkusen. In turn, Wirtz is now part of the pitch to other players, he added.
“Everybody said: ‘If Kai Havertz will leave you, you will drop,'” Rolfes said. “We used it wisely to make a step up."
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
James Ellingworth, The Associated Press
