Bayer Leverkusen are now five points clear at the top of the Bundesliga table after their 3-0 win over Bayern Munich, who could have leapfrogged the league leaders with a win.
Kick-off was once again delayed this weekend, due to ongoing protests from the active fan scenes in Germany against the DFL and their plan to invite private equity into the Bundesliga ecosystem.
When it did eventually did come around, it took just 18 minutes for the Bundesliga leaders, Leverkusen to find an opener, which came from an unlikely source.
Josip Stanišić tapped in from a Robert Andrich ball across the Bayern box from close range to open the scoring against his parent club.
Alejandro Grimaldo got on the end of a perfectly weighted ball from Nathan Tella, and sent a side-footed effort past Manuel Neuer five minutes after the break to double Leverkusen’s advantage.
Capitalising on the Bayern captain’s efforts to claw a goal back, the ball came to Jeremie Frimpong whose electric pace allowed him to break into the opposing half and curl a shot into Neuer’s vacated goal from a wide angle.
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Leverkusen go five points clear at the Bundesliga summit
The 2-2 draw against Bayern at the Allianz in the Hinrunde was a clear sign that the Rekordmeister were not going to have it easy this season.
Now, Leverkusen’s 3-0 win over Thomas Tuchel’s side means they are five points clear of their opponents and in a very healthy position to chase their title aspirations and shed the ‘Vizekusen’ tag.
Inflicting Bayern’s third loss of the season, Alonso and his team have launched themselves into an incredibly healthy position at the top of their table.
Four points from two games against the Bavarians mean Bayer 04’s last-grasp winners against FC Augsburg and RB Leipzig are particularly pertinent, considering Saturday night's result.
This performance was a culmination of Alonso’s fine work so far, and all the more impressive considering key players such as Victor Boniface, Odilon Kossounou and Exequiel Palacios while Jeremie Frimpong and Jonas Hofmann were second-half substitutes.
Considering Alonso had to navigate a week that housed an intense clash against VfB Stuttgart in the DFB-Pokal midweek and a visit from Bayern, it can only be described as sublime work from the Basque tactician.
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Tuchel will bear the brunt of the blame
Tuchel’s Bayern seemed to have turned a corner from their unexpected defeat to Werder Bremen and arrived at the BayArena as favourites.
But despite their total of 50 points in the Bundesliga, Tuchel has divided opinion in Germany and has openly admitted he feels more respected in England.
Regarding the Bayern ultras’ anti-investment protests, he found himself in hot water because of the way he spoke about the situation.
He and Bayern have received heavy criticism from select pundits in Germany, leading the club to release a statement condemning the consistency of the comments.
Stanišić opened the scoring after evading Sacha Boey, the man who effectively replaced him at Bayern, who let the Croatian run free and get on the end of Andrich’s cross.
Boey was ultimately responsible for the opener, the €30m-man was preferred at left-back by Tuchel, despite Raphaël Guerreiro being available in the absence of the injured Alphonso Davies.
Bayern registered just a single shot on target throughout the 90 minutes, which culminated in a staggeringly low xG of 0.27.
As well playing Boey on the left, he opted to leave Matthijs De Ligt, Thomas Müller, Joshua Kimmich, who had recently recovered from injury, on the bench from the start.
There was a distinct lack of creativity from the visitors, and despite some early possession a game that seemed to get away from Bayern may have benefited from the experience of Müller and Kimmich from the outset.
Despite Leverkusen taking the lead in the first half and taking the game to Bayern and their changed system, no personnel or tactical changes were made at half-time.
Jamal Musiala, Leroy Sané and Harry Kane have a combined total of 55 goal contributions in the league, but their influence was completely stifled and they barely got a chance to hold the ball.
Despite being the second best second-placed team in Bundesliga history, that ultimately means nothing if Tuchel and Bayern fail to lift the Meisterschale come May.
Current Bundestrainer and former Bayern manager Julian Nagelsmann watching over proceedings from the stands served as a stark reminder that life at Bayern can end incredibly abruptly.
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Alonso’s tactics worked to perfection
Alonso said post-match that he had an inkling Tuchel could change his system, and praised his team’s dominance without the ball and how limited Bayern were when it came to creating chances of their own.
Alonso also rotated his squad, opting to play Wirtz and Tella through the middle and exploit their pace through the centre of the pitch, but also as a defensive measure which worked perfectly.
Amine Adli was preferred up-top, as opposed to Patrik Schick or Borja Iglesias. His pace and running made him a thorn in the side of the Bayern defence and allowed him to create, and receive the ball in situations that suited his style of play.
The Moroccan forward, Wirtz and Tella were the first line of defence on the night, choosing when to press Bayern’s centre-backs, or intercept the passes to Goretzka, Pavlović and Musiala.
Defensively, Bayern were far from their best and that includes Manuel Neuer, whose unusually poor distribution surrendered possession on occasion, summed up Bayern’s performance on the night.
While mistakes by Eric Dier and Boey were key factors in allowing Leverkusen to create chances and ultimately score three times, the overall credit has to go to Leverkusen and their squad planning.
Alonso has proven to be tactically flexible and predict what his team may face. Despite the change in system, his core principles were ever-present and recognisable throughout.
“That’s the sign of a better team, when we are able to play in different ways,’’ said Alonso to ESPN after the game.
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Bayern now have to play catch-up
These high-pressure, massive games tend to be what Bayern thrive on and when expectations point to the other team, they capitalise.
But, it was different last night and they were simply second-best in every department.
Bayern had the opportunity to go a point ahead of Leverkusen with a win on Saturday, but were beaten resoundingly and have a lot of ground to claw back.
Die Rekordmeister now have to rely on Leverkusen dropping points, and that is entirely possible, considering a large portion of the season is yet to be played.
Tricky away days to the likes of 1.FC Heidenheim and Borussia Dortmund await, but Bayern are in the same boat.
Having already dropped out of the DFB-Pokal to 3.Liga side 1.FC Saarbrücken and succumbed to defeat against Werder and a hammering from Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern have proven they are from their free-flowing best this season.
A massive game against Lazio in the UEFA Champions League awaits on Wednesday, before a trip to VfL Bochum at the weekend.
Despite the friendly relations Bayern fans have with their counterparts on the Ruhr, Tuchel needs to show that Bayern still have what it takes to challenge for the double on the back of an extremely significant loss in the Bundesliga.