The Spaniard surprises with Leverkusen in the Bundesliga and everyone is raving about him. how did he do that?
Coach Xabi Alonso also cuts a good figure on the sidelines.
Imago/ Osnapix / Hirnschal
There are people who have known for a long time what Xabi Alonso is made of. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, former Bayern CEO, had a precise idea five years ago of what former Bayern professional Xabi Alonso could become. Alonso is one of the “smartest and best strategists” he has ever seen in midfield at Bayern. “In my opinion we have to make an effort to ensure that he returns to Munich at some point,” said Rummenigge. What the CEO didn’t reveal at the time: Bayern would have liked to take him on as sports director in 2017, when he ended his playing career – but Alonso preferred a coaching career.
Apparently for good reason, as the results in Leverkusen show. After a year and a half of coaching in the Rhineland, he has conquered football Germany for himself. Leverkusen leads the table and will host Bayern next week. “No club shines brighter than the Werkself,” said the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. And the “Spiegel” headline: “The man who enchants Leverkusen (and the Bundesliga)”. The last coach who knew how to inspire opponents and fans alike was Jürgen Klopp and his Dortmund team.
The impression is perfect
It’s not just the appearance of Leverkusen’s game that is impressive. Above all, it is the prospect of achieving something incredible. Winning the very first championship with the club that earned the nickname “Vizekusen” because of its frequent failures.
But what is it about Xabi Alonso? From a purely visual point of view, it offers no points of criticism. His performance is impeccable. Although: Sometimes, on these cold winter weekends, one or two people worry about him. Because Xabi Alonso isn’t wearing a thick down jacket to combat the cold on the sidelines, but rather an elegant coat that doesn’t even reach his knees.
He can change his wardrobe at any time without losing his charisma. And he likes to do it. When the coach puts on training clothes, he often gives his students object lessons.
They are lessons that even veterans can learn from. Nobody praises the Basque’s qualities louder than Granit Xhaka, Leverkusen’s leader. It’s not just young professionals who could benefit from the coach’s experience, even someone like him, with more than 500 competitive games, is still improving: “I have the feeling that I have taken another step forward in this regard here in Leverkusen. He tells us in small details what turns a good midfielder into a top midfielder,” said Xhaka to the “NZZ am Sonntag”. The coach is also fit to the tips of his hair, he clocks up kilometer after kilometer on the training ground with his players, and hardly anyone doesn’t feel addressed.
The content of Xhaka’s praise is pretty much the same as that of former Bayern boss Rummenigge, who once explained in a “Bild” podcast: “Xabi Alonso has the empathy that you need. Especially with today’s generation of players, to spin such a common thread with them.” So you can say: the higher the level of a footballer, the greater the respect he has for Xabi Alonso.
He has many options
Is it any wonder that Leverkusen’s biggest concern is that he could leave the club after the season? He is the man everyone wants. He himself is likely to be picky when choosing a career path. The three world clubs where he played successfully can have hopes: Liverpool FC, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
There is movement everywhere. The position of club icon Jürgen Klopp will become vacant in Liverpool at the end of the season. Nobody in Munich would probably bet too big on Thomas Tuchel coaching Bayern beyond the end of the season. Carlo Ancelotti may have extended his contract with Real Madrid for another year, but an arrangement in the Spanish capital is never one to last forever.
Xabi Alonso was able to start robustly.
Foto-Net / Team photo
Liverpool would definitely fit. A club full of football history, not quite as overheated as Munich or Madrid, and an environment in which the coach is not immediately questioned at the first headwind. But taking over from Jürgen Klopp would be a huge burden.
But it would just as well suit his career so far if he stayed in Leverkusen for another year. Appearing in the Champions League for the first time as a coach and not as a player is certainly a tempting challenge.
It would be a logical decision. After all, Xabi Alonso built his career as a coach very carefully. Via the C-juniors of Real Madrid and the home club San Sebastián, his path took him to Leverkusen, where he didn’t have much to lose as the successor to Gerardo Seoane, but can now win a lot with a squad of this quality.
Seriousness also distinguished him as a professional. In Liverpool, the Basque matured into a world-class player and was considered an extended arm of his coach Rafael Benítez. His greatest performance was in 2005, when he scored a goal to make it 3-3, a penalty converted in a follow-up, to force extra time against AC Milan. It was the most spectacular Champions League final ever. Liverpool won in the penalty shootout.
In 2009 he moved to Real Madrid. There he became a fixture in the Spanish national team because Spain’s national coach Vicente del Bosque relied on a compromise and wanted to satisfy both the faction from the capital and that of FC Barcelona, the club team that set the tone at the time under coach Pep Guardiola.
Del Bosque allowed Xabi Alonso and Sergio Busquets from Barcelona, who was at least equal, to play together – although only one of them would have been needed. Spain didn’t play its best football under del Bosque, but under his predecessor Luis Aragonés. When he amazed the football world with his Tiki-Taka style at the European Championships in 2008, a naturalized Brazilian named Marcos Senna secured the midfield. There was no room for Alonso, although already a Champions League winner.
The decision to leave Liverpool for Real reflects the ability that also distinguished him on the football field: Alonso always knew when he had to be in which place. And it’s Leverkusen right now, where the expectations of him weren’t so high that he couldn’t exceed them.
Learned from the best
Anyone who talks about Xabi Alonso also has to talk about his coaches. In Liverpool he had the opportunity to work with the pragmatic Rafael Benítez. In Madrid he learned under Carlo Ancelotti how to keep a squad happy. Vicente del Bosque exuded integrity inch by inch. And at Bayern he experienced the last tactical innovator of quality in Pep Guardiola.
In principle, his move to Bayern, where Guardiola worked, was the first step to becoming a coach. Alonso, a figurehead for Real, signed on with what was once his toughest rival. Alonso once told his former Liverpool teammate Jamie Carragher in a conversation that Guardiola had given him another perspective on football.
So far, Alonso’s work in Leverkusen seems like a distillation of his collected views: he seems to bring in the positive qualities of his coaches and mentors, but leave the bad ones aside: the sometimes brittle nature of Rafael Benítez, the sometimes too great nonchalance of Ancelotti, the nerdiness of Guardiola , whose desire to make a big splash often hindered rather than inspired his teams in big games.
Xabi Alonso’s ideas have been brilliant so far. And if he actually brought the first title to Leverkusen, the gratitude would certainly be so great that they wouldn’t even begrudge him saying goodbye in the summer.
An article from “NZZ am Sonntag”