Bundesliga "autumn champions" Bayer Leverkusen. Fans celebrate their 30-year stay in the top
German division. December 19, 2009.
Photo credit: Flash LEV on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion Photo Pool.
Another week, another victory! This week was a 4-0 route of Nuremburg. Bayer 04 have become,
along with HSV, one of the dominant teams in the Bundesliga. But it was only a year ago that Bayer,
under Bruno Labbadia had a blistering start. But it wasn't anything comparable to this start,
because the Werkself aren't just winning, their winning with panache and style.
Whisper it quietly but it is said that at this time of the year most English football hacks wish
they were Germans. Why? Because most German soccer journalists don't need to work over Christmas.
So while Alan Green reluctantly squeezes into a windswept commentary gantry on Boxing Day afternoon
and Henry Winter stays up until two in the morning on Christmas Night desperately trying to find
yet another tenuous angle for yet another tedious article supporting Michael Owen's increasingly
unlikely inclusion in England's World Cup squad, the likes ofUli Hesse-Lichtenburger are at home
with their families.
