West Ham United manager, David Moyes, has applauded Xabi Alonso and the entire Bayer 04 Leverkusen team after they were crowned Bundesliga Champions, Soccernet.ng reports.
Die Werkself were German Champions for the first time in their history after they sealed a 5-0 win over Werder Bremen on Sunday, with Florian Wirtz scoring a hat trick.
West Ham United suffered a 2-nil defeat at the Bay Arena as Leverkusen turned on the heat in the last ten minutes, with substitutes Victor Boniface and Jonas Hofmann scoring to give the home side an advantage in the two-legged tie.
Despite being on the opposing end, Moyes couldn’t help but applaud the work Xabi Alonso and the Leverkusen players have put in to achieve their success in the league.
“They’ve done a good job. Look at Dortmund and Bayern Munich in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League, yet Leverkusen are way ahead in the league. Why not celebrate winning the championship? You must celebrate it. You have to take advantage of it because these moments go by so fast,” the Scottish manager said in his pre-match conference.
Jokingly, the West Ham gaffer hoped the effects of the celebrations made the German Champions-elect a bit lax.
“I hope they drank giant, large-sized pints of beer like you get in Germany, but seriously, it is obvious that we must do a very good job, if we can. We played well in the first match. It wasn’t enough. This is what happens when you play against the big teams, against Arsenal or Manchester City. We must find ways to obtain results. We put in a lot of effort last week. We came very close and we will try again,” the 60-year-old added.
Xabi Alonso’s Bundesliga champions have extended their new German record for consecutive competitive matches without a loss to 43 games.
