Over in Leverkusen, they’ll inform you that it was the Bayern Munich sport in September of final season that had them believing they is likely to be onto one thing. Xabi Alonso’s facet had gained their first three video games after they went to Munich and drew 2-2.
“In the pre-season, you feel like, oh, we have a good team,” says Simon Rolfes, Bayer Leverkusen’s sporting director. “When you start the season, okay, we have a good team. Then we play in Munich. Okay, we are competitive, really at the top.”
It was proof they had been at the very least a match for the staff that had gained the Bundesliga 11 occasions in a row. Because it turned out, Leverkusen had been slightly higher than that, powering to the title and turning into the primary unbeaten staff within the competitors’s lengthy historical past.
“At a certain point of the season, it was as if we had the feeling that we would not lose and that is a special feeling. Okay, we cannot do exactly what we want, but at the end we will win, you know? If we push and we push, we will score, we will score.
“That was at all times the mentality and self-belief of the gamers, that we are going to discover a answer, we are going to get it, nonetheless we now have to do it. And that makes it actually particular as a result of it didn’t cease after profitable the Bundesliga title. We continued to attain within the final minute.”
The unbeaten document has now gone however Leverkusen stay the staff most probably to problem Bayern. That knack for late targets stays. It gained them the Supercup towards Stuttgart with 10 gamers. Their winner on the opening weekend got here within the a hundred and first minute.
And whereas competing with Bayern financially is out of the query – Leverkusen desire to speak of high 4 and measuring themselves towards Leipzig – they nonetheless have Xabi Alonso and a squad that has been constructed with a number of the savviest recruitment round.
To clarify how all this occurred, how Leverkusen turned the envy of Europe in upsetting the percentages, it takes greater than Alonso. It required a recruitment rethink, one Rolfes now freely admits was rooted within the errors that had been made alongside the best way.
“Besides the technical, tactical and physical skills, the personality also is crucial, and if this is bad, in our opinion, we will not sign the player,” he explains. “That was also a key learning from our season two years before, when we really struggled.”
Alonso’s predecessor Gerardo Seoane misplaced his job however Rolfes understood that at the very least a number of the duty lay with the recruitment. “We had to take a deeper look into this project about how we analysed players, what characteristics we wanted.”
Simon Rolfes discovered classes from previous recruitment disappointments
Rolfes is a legend at Leverkusen, a midfielder who gained 26 caps for Germany throughout his decade with the membership as a participant, however his pursuits are diversified – expertise amongst them. He talks excitedly about synthetic intelligence. Information drives their scouting processes.
“If you do not use it, it is just a hobby. For me, it is a normal development. Technology is getting better and better. The data is more precise and you can use it in a better way. We try to find some key performance indicators that say, for us, this is important.
“We imagine in our scouting division. We discover gamers via the method and never the opposite method round. We don’t simply take a look at some gamers and say, that may be a good one, let’s take him. We attempt to have a transparent course of to establish the correct profiles.”
Saturday twenty eighth September 5:20pm
Kick off 5:30pm
That’s when the subjective evaluation of their character kicks in. “He looks good, but what is he like mentally? We try to get as much information as possible.” It’s not simple to know somebody inside out, he admits. “Even your wife can surprise you,” he jokes.
And there’s an consciousness that not everybody must be the identical. “Our goal is not to have 25 players alike. You need different characteristics. Introverts and extroverts. Leadership guys. But a player without intrinsic motivation? It is difficult to be a top star.”
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Bayer Leverkusen scored one other dramatic late winner on the opening weekend
Rolfes is reluctant to call names in the case of those that didn’t have the motivation required – the clue is that they’re lengthy gone. However he’s blissful to offer an instance of a participant who embodies the qualities Leverkusen need to see in a participant.
Robert Andrich has simply been rewarded with a brand new contract, reflecting his pivotal position in Leverkusen’s success. He was virtually 25 when he made his Bundesliga debut for Union Berlin. Now he’s a cult hero. “Robert is for me a fantastic role model,” says Rolfes.
“He has had a very special way to the top and that is what I like. A lot of top players are more or less the best in their academy, they make it really early. Robert really worked, made it step by step and then became an international player at 29. I really like this.
“He was at all times capable of adapt to the subsequent stage. It exhibits that with a superb mentality, with intrinsic motivation, you’ll be able to obtain rather a lot. Typically, younger, high-potential gamers should be taught this as a result of they’re so skilful they’re used to being higher than others.”
Bayer Leverkusen’s Robert Andrich epitomises the traits they need
Leverkusen’s recruitment final season was outstanding, Granit Xhaka, Alex Grimaldo and Victor Boniface amongst these serving to to remodel the staff. This time round, they’ve retained the important thing gamers and added to the group for the Champions League problem.
“It is important to keep the core structure of the team but refresh it,” explains Rolfes. “That is our idea. We signed a defender, a midfielder, an attacking player. So in each part of the squad, there is a little bit of new competition, maybe a new hierarchy.”
However enhancing this squad will not be really easy now. “The players are performing at a high level now but we did not sign them at that level. And now we are trying to add guys at their level? For sure, that is difficult. The budget did not change because we won the title.”
Now, after all, there’s the draw of becoming a member of the Bundesliga champions. And the lure of working with Alonso. “We could not have signed Xhaka or Grimaldo if they did not have the feeling that it was a really interesting club with an interesting head coach,” he provides.
Retaining Alonso was key. “I always had a good feeling that he would stay.” However Rolfes is aware of that it’s going to not be endlessly. A part of his job is to plan for the succession. That too, he hopes, will deliver extra enticing candidates now that Leverkusen are confirmed winners.
“Each successful story is helpful for the next one. That is also the case with the players. Kai Havertz, for example. He was 17 when we counted on him and his career path helped us to sign Florian Wirtz. He played at 16. He will maybe help the next one.”
Earlier than that, the purpose is so as to add extra trophies. There may be an consciousness that with this group of gamers, underneath this specific coach, there is a chance there. “This motivates me a lot and I can feel it that it is also motivating for others to try to get the next chance.”
He provides: “The challenge is different because the expectations are very high now. Some guys think maybe we can win again.” A dip in efficiency is likely to be solely pure? “That is challenging, it is human after such a season. You really have to be careful with this.”
However Rolfes is optimistic. “Some things are easier as well. Now there is confidence to say, okay, we can win a final, we can win the championship. That gives us confidence we can compete.” The intrinsic motivation is there. Leverkusen are coming for Bayern once more.
