VAR, Victory, and Very Long Records – Bayer 04 Says Tschüss with a Bang

 If you go 34 (!) consecutive Bundesliga away games without losing, you’re either defying the laws of physics or you’ve got a giant red Bayer cross on your chest. Our Werkself just wrapped up the 2024/25 season with a wild 2:2 draw in Mainz, and while the match might not have had title drama, it had everything else: chaos, comedy, controversy – and history. With that result, we’ve officially set a Bundesliga record: 34 straight away matches unbeaten. Bayern? Never heard of her.

Let’s talk about the game – although calling it a "game" is generous. The first half was a full-on VAR festival, where the video assistant referee decided to make one last desperate push for MVP. Mainz put the ball in the net three (!) times in 30 minutes, and each time VAR popped up like an annoying software update to say “Nope, try again.” Honestly, we were one offside away from a full-blown drinking game.

Meanwhile, Bayer in the first half? Let’s be honest – flatter than our Meisterträume in May. The boys in black and red barely showed up while Mainz threw everything forward, including a bicycle kick, two tap-ins, and the ghost of Nadiem Amiri. And yet, somehow, it stayed 0:0 until Paul Nebel finally beat Hradecky – with a helpful deflection off Jonathan Tah. Not ideal, but at least it counted, which is more than we can say for most Mainz goals that day.

Second half? Totally different story. Xabi Alonso – managing his final game in charge of the Werkself – made some halftime changes and suddenly Bayer remembered that football also happens outside the BayArena. Enter Patrik Schick, the Tschechischer Traum. First he won and buried a penalty like it was 2022 again, then he headed in a corner five minutes later like it was his job. Because, well, it is.

That 2:1 lead didn’t last long though, because of course it didn’t. This is Bayer 04, not Disney. Mainz earned a controversial penalty of their own – the kind where you need five slow-motion angles, an Ouija board and a panel of philosophers to interpret it. Burkardt equalized, and suddenly we were back at 2:2. Mainz kept pushing, even thought they’d won it in stoppage time, only for the VAR (yes, again) to cancel yet another goal – this time for a handball. At this point, the VAR probably deserved its own man-of-the-match award and a warm bath.

So we leave the 2024/25 Bundesliga season with a point, a record, and a bittersweet goodbye. No Meisterschale, but a second-place finish, a whole lot of memories, and two full years of not losing away from home. Not too shabby for a club whose nickname literally translates to "Never Champions."

And yes, it was Xabi Alonso’s last dance. No trophy in hand, but a legacy firmly cemented. He took us from “might make Europa League” to “might actually win it all” – and even though we didn’t, we believed. In Leverkusen, that’s already a miracle.

The pros head to the beach now, but the U19s take center stage tomorrow in the BayArena, battling Köln for the national title. Over 22,000 tickets sold – and counting. If you’re not there, do you even Werkself?

Oh, and one more time for the haters in the back: 34 away games unbeaten. Records are forever. And so is Bayer.