"Werkself" makes it clear

Leverkusen: “We have pulverized this image”

Leverkusen's double heroes(Bild: AP/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

When they finally started the party marathon they had been longing for after winning the double, the bosses and players of Bayer Leverkusen were already thinking about next season. Now that the 31-year-old title curse, including the "Vizekusen" spot, has been banished, the German champions want to position themselves permanently as a top team and rival to FC Bayern Munich.

"We have pulverized the image that Bayer was always said to have," said Head of Sport Simon Rolfes, who played for Leverkusen without a title from 2005 to 2015. The task now is to consolidate the new external image. "I didn't come here just to win a title for one year," said final goalscorer Granit Xhaka after Saturday's 1-0 DFB Cup final victory over second-division side 1. FC Kaiserslautern. And in full consciousness on the way to the big party in the "Club Theater Berlin" with around 1,000 invited guests.

"It doesn't stop here"
Coach Xabi Alonso explained: "I have the desire to continue on this path and prepare something new from Monday." The motto exemplified by club boss Fernando Carro of formulating goals in a brash manner, even in public, has been adopted by the entire club after this historic season. "We are very happy, but it doesn't stop here," said Carro: "We have to try to stay at this level. And we will do that." Of course, FC Bayern Munich, who impressively replaced the series champions after eleven years, are "the strongest team in Germany in terms of history. But we definitely want to at least be able to stand up to them".

And then the Spaniard even explicitly formulated the upcoming goals. "The aim is always to be at the top," he said: "The aim is to be at least at the top in the Bundesliga, to get as far as possible in the cup and also to show in the Champions League that Bayer Leverkusen is at the top level."

Xhaka went one step further. "Let's attack in the Champions League next year," he said with a mischievous smile, deliberately leaving open how far this attack should go. Xhaka's message to the national competition, on the other hand, was clear. "We will do everything we can to defend our titles," he said: "We want to carry on in the same way next year. We will lose games from time to time, we won't go 51 games in a row without losing again next year. But we want to attack." What will it take to establish ourselves permanently at the top? "Hunger and mentality - the club knows everything else."

Xhaka scored the golden goal against Kaiserslautern.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The optimism is fueled by the special circumstances of the season, in which Bayer won more titles than ever before in 119 years of club history. And they did not win these titles primarily because of the weakness of Bayern, who scored even more points than in the previous year. Rather, it was due to their own strength, with which they unnerved Munich at some point. They were the first team in league history to remain unbeaten for an entire season. And they also reached the Europa League final, where they suffered their only defeat in 53 competitive matches with a 3-0 defeat against Atalanta Bergamo.

"Finally letting it rip"
The celebrations, which had previously been dutifully neglected, were made up for in the night from Saturday to Sunday. He didn't want Spanish red wine today, said Alonso. "Tonight I'm drinking German beer." The barley juice was already flowing in the dressing room, said captain Lukas Hradecky, "and champagne and everything that goes with it". Sporting director Rolfes: "Now they can finally enjoy it and let their hair down a bit."