Leverkusen is moving towards getting rid of the nickname Neverkusen – 03/13/2024 – The World Is a Ball

Founded in 1904, Bayer Leverkusen is one of the best-known and most traditional clubs in Germany.

For some time now, however, he has had a derogatory nickname: Neverkusen. Replacing the “L” with the “N” makes the team’s name half the English word “never”, which means “never”.

The nickname, created by the English media, dates back to 2002, when Leverkusen came very close to winning three championships, the German, the German Cup and the Champions League, succumbing in the final two.

Furthermore, from 1997 to 2002, the team from the city located in western Germany and founded by members of a pharmaceutical company (the one with the slogan “if it’s Bayer, it’s good”), accumulated four runner-up finishes in the Bundesliga – the title in 2000 was lost in the final round.

Thus, despite generally being a good team, at most it reached second place in the country’s main competition, not reaching the level of great or excellent.

The “never” refers primarily to the fact that Leverkusen has never managed, in its entire history, to win the national championship – it competed in the elite division for the first time in 1951.

His greatest achievements to date are the German Cup in 1993 and the UEFA Cup in 1987, when Brazilian attacking midfielder Tita (interclub World Cup champion with Zico’s Flamengo in 1981) scored a goal in the final against Español, from Spain. .

This year, however, Leverkusen has everything it takes to get rid of the nefarious Neverkusen.

Competently managed by Spanish coach Xabi Alonso (former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich midfielder and champion with Spain in the 2010 World Cup), at 42 years old a newcomer in the profession, the team is ten points behind ( 67 to 57) for Bayern with nine rounds remaining in the Bundesliga.

Is there still a lot of championship? Yes, about a quarter, and there is always Botafogo from 2023 to be remembered – they succumbed in the Brazilian Championship after a 13-point advantage.

And having gigantic Bayern, the only Bundesliga champion since 2012 (11 consecutive titles), in pursuit, doesn’t leave anyone completely at ease.

However, the solidity shown so far by Leverkusen (zero defeats and the best defense in the championship), added to Bayern’s inconsistency (which drew one game and lost another against the leader, in other words, there is no more direct confrontation), makes many people believe that “this time it will”.

The season is impressive. Leverkusen has an unbeaten run of 40 matches (35 wins and 5 draws), starting on August 2, 2023, including the German Championship, German Cup, Europa League and friendlies. It’s been more than nine months without losing.

Last week, the team came very close to having their series broken in the Europa League, in the first game of the round of 16, in Baku (Azerbaijan), against Qarabag. They trailed 2-1 until second-half stoppage time, when Czech center forward Patrik Schick equalized.

In addition to Schick, the main highlights of the squad are wingers Frimpong (Dutch) and Grimaldo (Spanish), midfielders Wirtz and Hoffman (German), goalkeeper Hradecky (Finnish), defender Tah (German) and striker Boniface (Nigerian). ).

The phase is definitely good, confidence is high, and the Neverkusen “entity” needs to act in a devastating way to prevent itself from becoming, in a few weeks’ time, a past expression.

In time: Leverkusen has a Brazilian, right-back Arthur, 20, ex-América-MG and under-20 national team. He was barely used by Xabi Alonso, due to repeated injuries: he played in just three matches this season, as a substitute, always in August 2023, for a total of 54 minutes.

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