DUESSELDORF, Germany: Xabi Alonso has coached Bayer Leverkusen to their best chance in years of finally winning the Bundesliga. The ultimate test comes on Saturday when Leverkusen host 11-time defending champion Bayern Munich.
Leverkusen have not lost any of their 30 games in all competitions this season — the only unbeaten team in any of Europe’s top five leagues — and lead Bayern by two points in the standings.
Alonso and his players refuse to even talk about the title race — it’s still early, they’re taking things game by game. Bayern’s long reign in German soccer has seen plenty of would-be challengers fall short, not least Borussia Dortmund throwing away their chance on the last day of last season.
And Leverkusen are Germany’s great “nearly” team. Five times a Bundesliga runner-up and never a champion, and Champions League runner-up to Real Madrid in 2002. Shaking off the “Neverkusen” nickname will take something special.
Alonso has transformed Leverkusen since taking over what were then a relegation-threatened team in October 2022. His achievements have seen him linked with his old club Liverpool as a potential successor to Jürgen Klopp when the German leaves at the end of the season after nine years in charge. Klopp remains the last non-Bayern coach to win the Bundesliga, with Borussia Dortmund in 2012.
“What Jurgen has done at Liverpool, I have great respect, great admiration for him . . . but my focus is here at Bayer Leverkusen,” Alonso said last month after Klopp made his plans public. He’s spoken before about how his playing career under some of the best coaches of recent years — Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti — gave him a wealth of examples to draw on when coaching his own games.
Alonso’s team play a calm, possession-based style which can quickly turn lethal. Full-backs Alejandro Grimaldo and Jeremie Frimpong bring skill and pace to both flanks, and with seven goals and 10 assists in 20 Bundesliga games, Grimaldo is arguably the most influential left back in European soccer this season.
The one big question mark is over the striker position. Victor Boniface has been out for the last month after he was injured while training for the Africa Cup of Nations. In Leverkusen’s five games since in the league and cup, neither backup striker Patrik Schick nor new loan signing Borja Iglesias have scored.
As for Bayern, Harry Kane is chasing records in his first season in Germany with 24 goals in 20 league games, but injuries are putting pressure on a thin squad. Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was out of training this week while left back Alphonso Davies strained a knee ligament last week and forward Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman are both out.
On the positive side, defender Kim Min-jae is back from the Asian Cup after South Korea’s semifinal loss to Jordan. Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel is hopeful that midfielder Joshua Kimmich and defender Dayot Upamecano can recover in time to play against Leverkusen.
Beat Bayern and Leverkusen fans could even start to dream that a league and cup double is possible.
Leverkusen won a thrilling game against Stuttgart 3-2 in the German Cup quarterfinals on Tuesday to reach the last four of a competition the club last won 31 years ago. It was the third time in five games that Leverkusen won by scoring in the 90th minute or beyond. Each time, Alonso celebrated wildly on the touchline.
Could this be the season the “Neverkusen” nickname is gone for good? Don’t count Alonso’s team out until the final whistle.
Alonso and Leverkusen face Bayern Munich in ultimate test of their title bid
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Alonso and Leverkusen face Bayern Munich in ultimate test of their title bid
- Leverkusen have not lost any of their 30 games in all competitions this season
- Alonso and his players refuse to even talk about the title race — it’s still early, they’re taking things game by game
US drops bid to preserve FIFA bribery convictions
- Prosecutors told the Supreme Court on Tuesday they wanted to end their fight
- The case was one of several to emerge from a sweeping 2015 corruption probe by DOJ
NEW YORK: The US government has moved to drop its case against a former Fox broadcasting executive involved in the FIFA corruption scandal that plunged the world’s footballing body into crisis.
Prosecutors told the Supreme Court on Tuesday they wanted to end their fight to preserve the convictions of Hernan Lopez and Argentine sports marketing firm Full Play.
Both were found guilty in March 2023 of wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies related to bribes to secure lucrative television rights to international football officials. The convictions were overturned on appeal months later, before being reinstated this July.
The case was one of several to emerge from a sweeping 2015 corruption probe by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), which ultimately led to the downfall of then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
In a filing to the Supreme Court, which Lopez had asked to review his conviction, prosecutors said that dismissal of the case is “in the interests of justice,” without giving further details.
They asked the case be returned to a lower court for its formal dismissal.
“I’m grateful the truth prevailed, and I’m also confident more of that truth will come out,” Lopez, a US and Argentine citizen, wrote on X late Tuesday.
While there was no indication of Donald Trump’s involvement, the US president has issued a string of pardons including for corruption related offenses.
In February, he ordered the DOJ to pause enforcement of a long-established law that prohibits American companies from bribing officials of foreign governments to gain business.
Lopez was facing up to 40 years in prison and millions of dollars in penalties after his conviction for money laundering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy.
During the trial, a US court heard that the main beneficiaries of the kickback scheme were six of the most powerful men in South American football.
They included former CONMEBOL president Nicolas Leoz, who died in 2019, former Argentine football executive Julio Grondona, who died in 2014, and former Brazilian football chief Ricardo Teixeira.
The United States will host the World Cup alongside Canada and Mexico next year.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has cozied up with Trump ahead of the sporting event, this month awarding him the governing body’s inaugural “peace prize.”
