Soccer
Xabi Alonso saluted Bayer Leverkusen’s professionalism during their 5-1 rout of Freiburg.
The reigning Bundesliga champions brought the curtain down on a memorable 2024 in dominant fashion at BayArena.
Patrik Schick scored four times while Florian Wirtz was also on target, as second-place Leverkusen cut the gap on leaders Bayern Munich to four points again heading into the winter break.
Alonso chalked up his 50th win as a Bundesliga coach after just 75 matches, with only Pep Guardiola taking fewer such games to reach the half-century (61).
Nevertheless, the Leverkusen boss was adamant the contest was not as straightforward for his side as the scoreline suggested.
50 – Xabi Alonso has won 50 of his 75 games as a Bundesliga coach to date – only Pep Guardiola earned his 50th Bundesliga win as a manager earlier (after 61 games). Boss. #B04SCF pic.twitter.com/rZ4xJMJqD3
— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) December 21, 2024
“The result may have been spectacular and Patrik scored four goals, but the game was not as easy as it seemed,” he told reporters. “We had a good opponent, and we had to prepare our actions intelligently.
“When a striker scores four goals, you can’t complain. Patrik also does a lot of work off the ball and when he does that well, that’s why he scores the goals. He helps the team, and they make chances for him.
“It was a very important victory for us today. We wanted to continue our sequence and go into the break with a good feeling. We managed that. We will continue to attack in the new year.
“That gives everyone a good feeling. We have big ambitions to continue fighting for our goals in 2025, and we want to achieve a lot together.”
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