BERLIN (AP) — Just call him Xabi Houdini. Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso has seen his team pull off several scarcely believable escapes from defeat this season as it remains unbeaten across all competitions.
Leverkusen, which has already secured the Bundesliga title, is on a 46-game run without a loss – a record across Europe’s “big five” leagues.
It has been achieved in extraordinary fashion.
Robert Andrich scored with the last kick of the game for a 2-2 draw with high-flying Stuttgart on Saturday. The goal came in the sixth minute of stoppage time when there was only supposed to be five.
Stuttgart had won seven of its nine games since losing to Leverkusen in the German Cup and led 2-0 against Leverkusen, but even that wasn't enough of a cushion to prevent Alonso’s team from coming back and extending its unbeaten record.
The previous weekend, Josip Stanišić scored in the seventh minute of stoppage time for a 1-1 draw at Borussia Dortmund. And in Leverkusen’s previous game, Amine Adli scored in the 90th minute for a 1-1 draw at West Ham in the Europa League.
In all, Leverkusen has eight draws this season to go with 38 wins.
“We’ve scored so many goals in stoppage time this year,” Adli said after the latest drama on Saturday. “But we should score earlier. It would be better for us.”
Andrich’s equalizer against Stuttgart was the 16th goal that Leverkusen has scored in the 90th minute or later across all competitions this season, and the 21st that was scored from the 86th.
“It’s not easy to explain what we did again after last week – again in the last minute,” Alonso said. “There’s no explanation why it happens so often, but it’s good for us.”
Those late goals helped Leverkusen clinch the Bundesliga title ahead of 11-time defending champion Bayern Munich with five rounds to spare.
“We’ve already reached our main target – to be champions – but we want to keep going, we don’t want to stop. There are still three games (in the Bundesliga). We want to stay unbeaten for the rest of the season,” Alonso said.
Leverkusen's next game is against Roma in the first leg of their Europa League semifinal on Thursday. The teams met at the same stage last season, when José Mourinho’s team eliminated Alonso’s thanks to a 1-0 win in Rome. They drew the second leg 0-0 in Leverkusen.
“From the first Europa League game against (Swedish team) Häcken, we spoke about our experience in Rome and now we’re back in the same situation, semifinal vs. Roma," Alonso said. "So yeah, hopefully we can use this experience well.”
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Leverkusen's Robert Andrich, right, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Marius Becker/dpa via AP)
Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso reacts on the touchline during a German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Marius Becker/dpa via AP)
Leverkusen's Robert Andrich, right, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Marius Becker/dpa via AP)
THE HAGUE (AP) — The United Nations’ top court on Thursday opened two days of hearings into a request from South Africa to press Israel to halt its military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population has sought shelter.
It is the fourth time South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice for emergency measures since the nation launched proceedings alleging that Israel’s military action in its war with Hamas in Gaza amounts to genocide.
“The sitting is open,” said ICJ President Nawaf Salam.
According to the latest request, the previous preliminary orders by The Hague-based court were not sufficient to address “a brutal military attack on the sole remaining refuge for the people of Gaza.”
Israel has portrayed Rafah as the last stronghold of the militant group, brushing off warnings from the United States and other allies that any major operation there would be catastrophic for civilians.
South Africa has asked the court to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah; to take measures to ensure unimpeded access for U.N. officials, humanitarian organizations and journalists to the Gaza Strip; and to report back within one week on how it is meeting these demands.
During hearings earlier this year, Israel strongly denied committing genocide in Gaza and said it does all it can to spare civilians and is only targeting Hamas militants. It says Hamas’ tactic of embedding in civilian areas makes it difficult to avoid civilian casualties.
In January, judges ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza, but the panel stopped short of ordering an end to the military offensive that has laid waste to the Palestinian enclave.
In a second order in March, the court said Israel must take measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including opening more land crossings to allow food, water, fuel and other supplies to enter.
Most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people have been displaced since fighting began.
The war began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which Palestinian militants killed around 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants in its count.
South Africa initiated proceedings in December 2023 and sees the legal campaign as rooted in issues central to its identity. Its governing party, the African National Congress, has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to “homelands.” Apartheid ended in 1994.
On Sunday, Egypt announced it plans to join the case. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Israeli military actions “constitute a flagrant violation of international law, humanitarian law, and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 regarding the protection of civilians during wartime.”
Several countries have also indicated they plan to intervene, but so far only Libya, Nicaragua and Colombia have filed formal requests to do so.
Follow AP's coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip walk through a makeshift tent camp in Rafah, Gaza, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
The top UN court is holding hearings on the Israeli military's incursion into Rafah
The top UN court is holding hearings on the Israeli military's incursion into Rafah
