Excitement builds in Leverkusen ahead of expected Bundesliga title win

LEVERKUSEN, Germany (AP) — Thousands of fans cheered Bayer Leverkusen’s bus arriving at the stadium Sunday ahead of an expected Bundesliga title-clinching win to crown an outstanding season.

Leverkusen is unbeaten in a German record 42 games across all competitions this season and it needs just one win from its last six Bundesliga games to be sure of winning the title for the first time.

The team’s first opportunity comes against visiting Werder Bremen on Sunday.

Despite having the title at stake, coach Xabi Alonso showed signs he was managing players' fitness ahead of next week's Europa League quarterfinal second leg against West Ham. Attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz, left back Alejandro Grimaldo and right back Jeremie Frimpong were all named on the bench.

As the bus arrived, fans lined the main road to the stadium to greet the team. Some waved cardboard replicas of the Bundesliga trophy and some let off pyrotechnics.

Houses were decorated with club banners and scarves along the streets from the city’s main train station to the BayArena stadium, and tape in the club’s black and red colors decorated trees.

In a nearby park, next to a freshly painted mural of Wirtz’s No. 10 shirt, vendors did a brisk trade in “German champion 2024” hats, as well as scarves reading “Thank You Xabi Alonso” – a tribute to the coach who has turned the team into a title contender.

Leverkusen fans have been waiting a long time for success after enduring a number of painful near misses, finishing runner-up in 2011, 2002, 2000, 1999 and 1997. The club also lost German Cup and Champions League finals in 2002. It hasn't won a major trophy since the German Cup in 1993.

Leverkusen is aiming to shed the “Vizekusen” nickname — from the German for “vice-champion” — that dogs the team, also known as “Neverkusen.”

“At least no one will say ‘Vizekusen’ anymore, which is very important,” said Germany sporting director Rudi Völler, who is a former Leverkusen sporting director and player. “It was a term that annoyed me for decades, but you have to put up with it, we never managed it before. But that's over.”

Leverkusen will also play second-division Kaiserslautern in the German Cup final in Berlin on May 25.

In the early game, Ritsu Doan’s first-half strike was enough for Freiburg to win 1-0 at last-place Darmstadt, which moved closer to automatic relegation.

Darmstadt, with 14 points, was 12 points from the relegation playoff spot with five matches to play. No team in the Bundesliga has ever overcome such a deficit at this stage of the season to survive.

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