Invincible Leverkusen set to defend Bundesliga title

Xabi Alonso will have to fight off a vengeful Bayern Munich

- RICHARD JOLLY

After years of superiority came the ultimate proof of domination, the Invincible season, the German team who completed the campaign without losing to German opposition. Except that, after 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles, Bayern Munich relinquished their crown. The unbeaten, unstoppable side were Bayer Leverkusen. “Neverkusen” – or “Vizekusen” in German – were rebranded “Winnerkusen”: they added the Supercup and the German Cup to their maiden Bundesliga title, aided by an improbable, seemingly unstoppable, torrent of injury-time winners.

German football had a different kind of predictability. As the Bundesliga resumes this weekend, it is with an added attention on the slighted, deposed Germans. Bayern’s response to losing their crown was unorthodox. Accustomed as they are to raiding their closest challengers, they were instead slighted when Xabi Alonso chose to remain at Leverkusen. Instead of a manager whose lone loss last season came to Atalanta in the Europa League final, they opted for one defeated 26 times: Vincent Kompany, relegated with Burnley.

Perhaps their most unexpected appointment since the untried Soren Lerby’s unsuccessful spell in 1991-92 represented a leftfield move. “For sure it was a surprise,” said Lothar Matthaus, the 1990 World Cup-winning captain who secured seven Bundesliga titles with Bayern. “Not everyone had his name on the paper. Me too.”

If part of Kompany’s task is to restore Bayern to their natural position at the summit, part of it is to restore their identity. “We need to rediscover this self-confidence and the Bayern DNA,” captain Manuel Neuer said. Matthaus believes a path to success is not to emulate his more decorated predecessor.