This was going to be it; this was how it was going to end. 26 games unbeaten coming into the match, but Bayer Leverkusen had been distinctly second best for the whole of the first half against RB Leipzig. The home side had created the best chances, kept Bayer at bay and had taken the lead courtesy a quite magnificent goal from Xavi Simmons. 1-0 at halftime.
Then, two minutes into the second half... peak Xabi-ball.
It starts, as it so often does with this team, at the back. They pass it around amongst their own centre-backs (who are anyway standing just behind the halfway line) before Jonathan Tah gets pressed by Luis Openda: and that's the trigger. Tah easily side-steps Openda before moving it on to Piero Hincapie, who takes a touch and moves it urgently forward, out wide to Florian Wirtz. Suddenly, where there was order now stands chaos.
Wirtz, Bayer's most reliable purveyor of chaos, gets it under control and immediately runs at right back Mohamed Simakan before cutting in, and dragging Simakan with him. While Wirtz had been keeping the width on the left (before receiving the ball), left wingback Alejandro Grimaldo had inverted into the Wirtz-position in the inside-left channel. When Wirtz cut in, Grimaldo moved the other way. Having squared Simakan up, Wirtz then passes it inside to Jonas Hofmann (who's drifted across from the right), who in turn acts like a wall, sending the ball out wide again, placing a first-time pass into space for Grimaldo to run onto.
Grimaldo does exactly that, and without taking a touch plays a delicious ball across the face of goal... At this point, it's important to note that Wirtz, Hofmann and Grimaldo's movement had already pulled the Leipzig defence out-of-shape, forcing it to tilt to their right. So much so that if you drew a line straight down the middle and split the pitch vertically, all the Leipzig players (including the keeper) were on the right half.
Which is why, once Grimaldo fizzed it in, a completely unnoticed Nathan Tella was able to stroll in at the far post (left half) and simply tap the ball into an empty net. 14 seconds after their centre back beat that high press to trigger the move, the right wingback was tapping it in from four yards out, off their left wingback's cross.
If ever there was a goal to illustrate the magic of Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen it was this. This is what they have been doing all season: the press-baiting from the defence, the immediate forward-looking passes from the back, the incessant whirlwind movement up top. There's an incredible stat that underlines just how instantly Bayer snap from defence into attack -- three of the top 5 line-breaking pass-makers (per 90) in Europe's top 5 leagues are Bayer players (the other two are Toni Kroos and Rodri: elite company). Leipzig found that out the hard way on Saturday.
Leipzig would actually score again to take the lead (Openda, rapid counter), but Tah would equalise with a thundering header and Hincapie would win it in injury time with a neat off-the-ball run and finish off a Grimaldo corner. The drama of the late winner was incredible, but from the moment the first goal went in, from the manner in which it was created, you knew this was going to be Leverkusen's day. And that's why that peak Xabi-ball goal is our Moment of the Weekend.
P.S.: With Bayern Munich slipping seven points behind (thanks to a rare win for Werder Bremen), could this now really be Leverkusen's season?