Xabi Alonso saluted Bayer Leverkusen’s professionalism throughout their 5-1 rout of Freiburg.

The reigning Bundesliga champions introduced the curtain down on a memorable 2024 in dominant style at BayArena.

Patrik Schick scored 4 occasions whereas Florian Wirtz was additionally on the right track, as second-place Leverkusen lower the hole on leaders Bayern Munich to 4 factors once more heading into the winter break.

Alonso chalked up his fiftieth win as a Bundesliga coach after simply 75 matches, with solely Pep Guardiola taking fewer such video games to achieve the half-century (61).

However, the Leverkusen boss was adamant the competition was not as simple for his aspect because the scoreline steered.

50 – Xabi Alonso has gained 50 of his 75 video games as a Bundesliga coach so far – solely Pep Guardiola earned his fiftieth Bundesliga win as a supervisor earlier (after 61 video games). Boss. #B04SCF pic.twitter.com/rZ4xJMJqD3

— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) December 21, 2024

“The outcome might have been spectacular and Patrik scored 4 objectives, however the recreation was not as straightforward because it appeared,” he instructed reporters. “We had a great opponent, and we needed to put together our actions intelligently.

“When a striker scores 4 objectives, you may’t complain. Patrik additionally does loads of work off the ball and when he does that nicely, that’s why he scores the objectives. He helps the crew, they usually make possibilities for him.

“It was an important victory for us right now. We needed to proceed our sequence and go into the break with a great feeling. We managed that. We’ll proceed to assault within the new 12 months.

“That offers everybody a great feeling. We’ve got huge ambitions to proceed preventing for our objectives in 2025, and we wish to obtain rather a lot collectively.”