Wirtz\u2019s hat-trick guides his side to their first-ever Bundesliga title, breaking Bayern\u2019s 11-year run
\nNews Agency
\nLEVERKUSEN
\nBayer Leverkusen lifted the Bundesliga title for the first time in their 120-year history on Sunday, a 5-0 victory over Werder Bremen breaking Bayern Munich\u2019s 11-year stranglehold on the German top flight.
\nXabi Alonso\u2019s Leverkusen knew victory would secure the title with five games to spare, and there were no signs of nerves in a dominant performance.
\nA hat-trick from Florian Wirtz and goals from Victor Boniface and Granit Xhaka extended their unbeaten run to a stunning 43 games in all competitions.
\nLeverkusen\u2019s maiden title, coming after five second-place finishes in their history, keeps their dream of a remarkable treble alive while shedding their unwanted \u2018Neverkusen\u2019 nickname for good.
\nWith 10 minutes to go, the long-suffering fans began making their way to the sidelines and a few jumped the gun, storming the pitch with the match still ongoing.
\nLeverkusen\u2019s players ushered the fans back and some obliged, albeit briefly, with the stands swiftly emptying on the 90-minute mark as tearful supporters made their way onto the turf to celebrate with the players.
\nLeverkusen are now on 79 points \u2014 the best tally after 29 games in German league history \u2014 and are 16 clear of second-placed Bayern and third-placed Stuttgart.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s impossible to describe. Personally I can\u2019t quite grasp what we did. I needed to go back to the changing room to clear my head,\u201d Wirtz told DAZN.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve already started the party with the supporters.\u201d
\nWirtz, who moved from neighbouring Cologne at the age of 16 and grew up just 20 minutes away in Pulheim, told DAZN he \u201ccould not imagine what we would achieve at the start of the season\u201d.
\n\u201cIt was when we started winning some matches, with a dominant style of play, that\u2019s when I realised we could do a little better than just making the Champions League.\u201d
\nThe Leverkusen bus arrived at the stadium 90 minutes before kick-off, wading through a sea of fans clad in black and red on the way to the 30,000-capacity BayArena.
\nNormally known as Bismarck Street, fans had stuck temporary signs saying \u2018Xabi Alonso Street\u2019 along the main road in honour of the club\u2019s coach.
\nAlonso looked ahead to Thursday\u2019s Europa League trip to London to face West Ham, making seven changes to his starting XI and benching stars Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Alex Grimaldo, the latter for the first time in the league this season.
\nPiero Hincapie, Grimaldo\u2019s replacement, had an early effort at goal saved but it would be the fit-again Boniface, making his first start since mid-December, who put the home side in front.
\nWith 22 minutes gone, Jonas Hofmann was felled in the box by Bremen\u2019s Julian Malatini, with the referee pointing to the spot after VAR urged him to view the contact again on the monitor.
\nBoniface stepped up and nervelessly slotted the penalty past a helpless Michael Zetterer to send the home fans into raptures.
\nHofmann was almost the provider again shortly before half-time, his pass finding Amine Adli who fired against the crossbar.
\nBremen started the second-half strongly but their hopes of spoiling the party were snuffed out on the 60-minute mark, Boniface finding Xhaka who unleashed a long-range rocket before slapping his badge in front of the ecstatic home fans.
\nWirtz, who came on at half-time for Adli, replicated Xhaka\u2019s effort eight minutes later from almost the same spot on the pitch.
\nWirtz added another with seven minutes remaining before sealing his hat-trick in the 90th minute as Leverkusen rid themselves of their nearly men tag in style.
\nEarlier on Sunday, a 36th-minute goal from Ritsu Doan took Freiburg to a 1-0 win at Darmstadt, pushing the last-placed hosts closer to immediate relegation.
\nWinless since October and with only two victories all year, the loss leaves Darmstadt dead last, eight points from second-last and 13 points from safety with five games remaining.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wirtz\u2019s hat-trick guides his side to their first-ever Bundesliga title, breaking Bayern\u2019s 11-year run News Agency LEVERKUSEN Bayer Leverkusen lifted the Bundesliga title for the first time in their 120-year history on Sunday, a 5-0 victory over Werder Bremen breaking Bayern Munich\u2019s 11-year stranglehold on the German top flight. Xabi Alonso\u2019s Leverkusen knew victory would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-400289","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n