Xabi Alonso leaves the Bay Arena locker room tunnel. It is a spring day in Leverkusen and the scent of the Rhineland forest floats in the warm air when the crowd recognizes the beige cashmere sweater, the black pants and the white sneakers that the Basque wears with the constancy of one who wears a uniform or a cabala. The north curve stands up. It’s a cry.

The people idolize him. “Because? Because he’s the best coach in the world!” says Peter, an old local fan, representative of a congregation concentrated along the northern Rhine basin as far as Düsseldorf, people from towns like Monheim, Lagenfeld, Hilden, Dormagen, Solingen… Thousands of parishioners bored with seeing how for 11 years the German league ended as expected, always the same, in the power of the richest club, Bayern, wealthier every year in the wave of a current of generalized concentration in European football. As Daniel Lambert, chief executive of Irish League club Bohemian, said: “This is like the climate crisis; “If we continue to ignore the imbalance, we are going to destroy the entire ecosystem.”

Bayer Leverkusen’s greatest feat was not winning the Bundesliga but doing so with a budget of 300 million euros against a Bayern Munich team that has a turnover of 900 million. Against the inertia of an industry that with each passing year limits competition more to the corral of the richest, a reduced space due to the effect of UEFA’s prize policy and the enormous attractiveness of the Champions League for sponsors. According to the European Club Union, between 2015 and 2021 clubs increased their income by an average of 9%; but the ten richest – Chelsea, PSG, City, Bayern, Liverpool, Juventus, Dortmund, Atlético, Barça and Madrid – did so by 48%. Leverkusen’s victory represents a rebellion. A dissonance in the symphony of plutocracy, a commitment of its general director, the Spanish Fernando Carro, since he arrived in 2018.

“It is very difficult to be among the 10 richest clubs; but between 10th and 20th we can place ourselves”

Fernando Carro, general director of Leverkusen

“90% of Germans wanted us to win the title!” laughs Carro, sitting yesterday in his office overlooking the playing field, hours before hosting Stuttgart in the Bundesliga. “A league that is always won by the same guy is boring!” Born in Barcelona in 1964, the executive was appointed by the pharmaceutical multinational Bayer to run its football franchise. With no experience in managing sports companies, he got into the job convinced of his mission. “You have to win titles!” He insisted, since 2018. Many employees were shocked. Leverkusen had barely achieved two in more than a century: a German Cup in 1994 and a UEFA Cup in 1988. Accustomed to the peace of provincial society, under the financial umbrella of Bayer, naturally inclined to the conservatism of the clubs in the upper-middle part of the table and under the protection of a loyal and resigned fan base, many discovered an unknown pressure.

“Changing a culture is very difficult,” says the leader, who made a point of living with the staff every day, at meals and on trips, so that the footballers felt that the institution was very close. “The first thing was to create a team, a company, a club. In football we often see two companies in one: the sports club and the rest of the company. My intention was to put everyone in the same boat and be demanding with everyone: with the footballers but also with the rest of the employees. I changed many positions of responsibility. My greatest success was perhaps appointing Simon Rolfes as sports director. We sold Kai Havertz and Julian Brandt, and with the proceeds we made an even better team. People began to realize that I was serious. Now we don’t want to stop!

“To be successful in the world of football you have to have a great squad and a great coach,” concludes the Catalan; “and here great signings have been brought together with the best coach in Europe.”

Carro’s logic was coupled with the logic of a dysfunctional market in which medium-sized companies can only compete if they break the iron wheel assigned to them by the system. “I’m in favor of those who are more successful getting more money,” he says. “This means that it is more difficult for the successful to stop being successful. That’s why I was aware that we had to quickly put the club at a top level. Now our income budget is 300 million, Dortmund’s about 500 and Bayern’s about 900. It is very difficult to be among the 10 richest clubs; but between 10th and 20th we can place ourselves. My goal was always to be on the border that competes with the big six of the Premier, Madrid, Barça, Juventus, PSG… those who will always have a higher economic level.”

“Being champions for the first time in the history of a club and also having the possibility of winning the Cup and the Europa League, is a type of success that I have never experienced. Seeing the fans experience something so special, so unexpected and new, feels even better.”

Xabi Alonso, Leverkusen coach

Alonso closed the circle. “What would stand out the most about Xabi is his ability to connect with the dressing room,” says the manager, who saw how the club went from being in 30th position in the UEFA ranking by coefficient to placing it in 15th place. “Xabi always has the right words. He perfectly knows how to put himself in the player’s shoes, and the players follow him, they believe him. He is a leader.”

Philipp Lahm watches the events with the same amazement as his countrymen. “According to UEFA, the German clubs with the most income are Bayern, Dortmund and Eintracht,” says the former Bayern captain, world champion in 2014, in his column Zeit. “Leverkusen is not even among the 20 richest in Europe. Bayern’s squad at the beginning of the season was worth twice as much. But it happens that Alonso is the best coach in the Bundesliga.”

Alonso has designed a team based on simplicity. By dint of solidity, of lineups with three and even four centre-backs, reasoning and fair words, the coach, escorted by Carro and Rolfes, has created a mystique. A spirit of revolt. Dedicated to the cause, the players play each game as if it were the last battle to inscribe their names in history. Otherwise it cannot be explained that they have gone 46 games without losing in all competitions this season and have insisted on not letting themselves be beaten.

If they complete an undefeated season they will equal the feats of Milan in 1992, Arsenal in 2004, and Juventus in 2012, three legendary teams. The only ones to achieve invincibility over the course of a season since World War II. A milestone that the Leverkusen players have set out to achieve, spurred on by Alonso, who has seen up to nine comebacks in stoppage time. Yesterday against Stuttgart, with three games left in the league, after losing 0-2, Andrich in the 96th minute, in a lateral foul, after two rebounds, scored 2-2.

The more than 30,000 people gathered in the stadium went crazy. “Deutscher Fußballmeister!” chanted the north end. “Champions of Germany!” they repeated, as if they were attesting to something supernatural. The players paid their respects to the curve and Xabi Alonso joined them in applause.

“Being champions for the first time in the history of the club and also having the possibility of winning the Cup and the Europa League, is a type of success that I have never experienced,” said Alonso yesterday, who as a player won the World Cup, Euro Cups, Champions Leagues and leagues. . “Seeing the fans experience something so special, so unexpected and new, feels even better. We will remember it for many years!”

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