Liverpool receives a message from Xabi Alonso as Harry Kane and Bayern Munich are belittled.

Bayer Leverkusen defeated Bayern Munich 3-0 to extend their incredible unbeaten streak. Harry Kane, the captain of England, hardly got a kick as the home team went five points ahead of the Bundesliga standings.

Should Xabi Alonso successfully shake off Bayer Leverkusen’s unkind “Neverkusen” label, it may perhaps lead him back to Anfield.

Liverpool’s executives can’t afford to wait to finalise a contract given Saturday night’s crushing 3-0 humiliation of German champions Bayern Munich, which has placed the high-flying squad led by the Spaniard—who has never won the Bundesliga—in charge of their Bundesliga future.

Before Germany’s largest club visited them in the nation’s match of the season, Leverkusen had won 26 of their 30 games this season and scored 90 goals. They are still unbeaten. Their greatest challenger, Bayern, was supposed to be the team that would dash their dreams of winning the crown.

Instead, Alonso’s team easily defeated Thomas Tuchel’s team at the BayArena, outworking and outmanoeuvring them, living up to their moniker “Werkself” and going five points clear at the top of the table. Harry Kane hardly got a kick in the match.

“We performed admirably,” Alonso declared. “The team had excellent discipline and cohesiveness. The entire show was excellent. Every player put on an excellent show. They had virtually no chances, whereas we had plenty.

“I can’t do it alone; I have a wonderful team with outstanding players. The secret is that we have a lot of energy. Nothing is hidden. The players have faith, and that is our desired outcome.

Joshua Kimmich

Ironically, it was defender Josip Stanisic, who was on loan from his parent club, who opened the score for the home team after just 18 minutes of play by converting Robert Andrich’s driven effort from close range.

Tuchel is not a fan of Joshua Kimmich, therefore Bayern was lacklustre with him missing out on midfield. Lots much stuff, yet terribly deficient in inspiration. It wasn’t working for Tuchel to line up Eric Dier between Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae, mirroring Bayer’s back three. Granit Xhaka, the former North London rival, was controlling play for the hosts, forcing Kane—who has been on fire this season—to go deeper and deeper in order to see the ball.

Four minutes into the second half, Nathan Tella, a former player for Burnley and Southampton, glided past Alex Grimaldo in a flowing move from back to front. The Spaniard then shot high into the roof of the net past Manuel Neuer.

In the 94th minute, Neuer embarrassingly decided to push forward for a corner with the game already over, only for Bayer to counter and former Celtic player Jeremie Frimpong to score from a distance. After failing to stop the ball from crossing the line, a dejected Leroy Sane—who has been excellent this season but subpar here—took to the in-goal camera to vent his fury.

About the title hopes on his side, Alonso continued, “We’ll discuss in May. We need to maintain our groundedness and be realistic.

Bayern was utterly outclassed and only mustered one shot on goal the entire evening, a long-range attempt by Noussair Mazraoui in the 26th minute.

Thomas Muller of Bayern responded, “To be honest, I’m p****d off,” eager to lay the responsibility not at all on former Chelsea manager Tuchel but rather on himself and his teammates. In training, we have far more bravery. We were not brave. It’s necessary to talk about the players occasionally. It goes beyond the coach alone. We must take action.

Speaking to Sky Germany, Tuchel retorted, “He’s not wrong. We must get better. Thomas properly sets high criteria, and we must meet them.”

It is Alonso who has raised the bar in Leverkusen. He is now without a doubt the top choice to take Jürgen Klopp’s place on Merseyside, if he wasn’t already.