Xabi Alonso, the brain of Leverkusen: how did he become the most coveted coach in Europe?

The player Xabi Alonso He was like a premature coach. The way he looked at the field from midfield, his elegance and precision in distributing passes, and his leadership in guiding the team made him look like a potential coach. It was a matter of time before the elegant player retired, grabbed the tactical board and began teaching what he knew. He is barely 42 years old and has become the most coveted coach in Europe, leading a surprising campaign for Bayer Leverkusen of Germany, with which he aspires to win the treble: Bundesliga, German Cup and European League.

When we talk about football coaches, we usually look at what Guardiola, Klopp, Mourinho, Ancelotti are inventing… those consolidated, all-powerful technicians who have expressed ideas that revolutionize. But in the last season, eyes turned with surprise and admiration towards this Spanish coach, born in Tolosa, Basque Country, a coach who maintains that trace of the great midfielder that he was. That was his introduction to being a coach, he was a great player in teams like Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. When he came to the technical direction he successfully captured his style and is doing it so well that today he has world football enchanted.

It is not only how this German team plays, which has 119 years of history, but the results it obtains that support Xabi's ability. Bayer Leverkusen is the sensation team of Germany and Europe. He is the solid leader of the Bundesliga and is on his way to becoming champion for the first time, which will already be a milestone for the Spanish coach. They are 16 points ahead of the second, which is the powerful Bayern Munich, so this weekend they could certify their crown, with six games left.

But that is not all. What is surprising is his unbeatability. Bayer Leverkusen has not lost all season, it does not know what defeat is, it does not know that word in German called Verlust. Xabi doesn't know her, it seems that in his German he only knows how to say win, win, win, gewinnen. He is undefeated in 41 games: 28 in the Bundesliga, five in the DFB Pokal (German Cup) and eight in the Europa League (six in the group stage and two in the round of 16). In total, he has 36 wins and five draws. This Thursday they face English West Ham at home in the first leg of the Europa League quarterfinals, an opportunity to show that they are really going for the European tournament (the second after the Champions League).

As if that were not enough, the team has qualified for the final of the German Cup, which will be played against Kaiserslautern on May 25. For all this, Bayer Leverkusen has overshadowed the dominance of Bayern Munich, which although it is in the Champions League, has given up power.

The Xabi style

“But wow, it's not just the way they play, they haven't lost a single game in the Europa League, in the German Pokal and in the Bundesliga, they are playing incredibly well” were the words of Pep Guardiola, Manchester's manager. City, to praise his Spanish colleague.

Guardiola knows Xabi well. He was one of his teachers, he directed him at Bayern Munich between 2014 and 2016, let's say that he polished that innate knowledge that the player already had and perhaps awakened some hidden concepts in him. “He is one of the best midfielders I have ever seen in my life. He understands the game, he is curious to know about the game, about what you have to do to win, he is involved and he is curious to know everything related to the game,” said Guardiola when Xabi announced his retirement. Furthermore, at that time, 2017, he added that he was sure that Xabi would return soon, as a coach.

Guardiola was not wrong. Xabi began his transition towards technical direction very quickly, which was a vocation that sprung up in him, that came out of his footballer's suit. Already retired, he could assume that role. He started as coach of Real Madrid's under-14 team, then moved to Real Sociedad B, where he achieved promotion from the third to the second division. And already in October 2022 he was announced as the new coach of Bayer Leverkusen, to the surprise of many, to the discomfort of skeptics, since it was a club with a lot of history, but few titles, a club so related to bad luck that it came to be called the 'Neverkusen', the team that never wins, a cursed team that always loses in the final moments. So Xabi was viewed with distrust due to his inexperience on the bench.

Furthermore, he arrived at a club in crisis, which was penultimate in the Bundesliga and was in the relegation zone. Xabi closed all their mouths. The beginning, like everything, was adverse, with some defeats, until Xabi was able to start a full season, the current one, with his planning, with his signings, he put together a team to his liking, with players like the Swiss Granit Xhaka, who is the axis, and other very important ones such as the German Andrich, the Spanish Grimaldo or the Nigerian Bonifase (he also has the Colombian Gustavo Puerta, who has played little, but has aroused the interest of Alonso), and there began the awakening of Leverkusen who He wanted to devour everything.

The main novelty that Xabi Alonso established was the idea of ​​the game, with a 3-5-2 as the base tactical system, mutating to a 5-4-1 or a 5-2-3, systems with which the coach gets a lot out of them. He takes advantage of his wingers and gives preponderance to his midfielders, a position he knows very well. His team practices ball possession, but with direct play, with progressive passes. Bayer is a popular team, but it is aggressive, devastating and safe.

From his training sessions, it is known that . The players admire him, believe him, respect him. “In my case, the passion is the same, both on the pitch and on the bench. I enjoy it very much. I don't tell the players little battles. I would like to be in the field again, but right now it is not possible. From time to time I start doing rondos in training. I work a lot in the field, by lines, by phases, and when there is time, by associations, in small companies,” said Xabi in an interview with Jorge Valdano.

Xabi's Bayer Leverkusen started the season with an overwhelming pace, beating rivals; They had their first test by visiting Bayern Munich and tied them 2-2. The team grew in confidence and realized that they could challenge the powerful. In the second round, when they faced Bayern Munich again, but at home, they dispatched them 3-0, they were already a consolidated, imposing team. He assumed that victorious pace in every game and in every competition, like in the Europa League: he was first in his group, then he took out Qarabag from Azerbaijan and went for West Ham.

It doesn't go away

“My work is not finished,” said Xabi in a press conference in which headlines jumped like dynamite, exploding everywhere, because Xabi became the most sought-after coach of the moment, and he gave all his suitors an accurate no. Liverpool wanted him (when Klopp leaves at the end of the season), Real Madrid wanted him, Bayern Munich themselves wanted him. And no, Xabi is not leaving for now.

“I want to help players develop. Everything is fantastic here. “I am still a young coach and I think this is the best decision for my future,” said the coach, who wants to make history this season and then direct his goals towards the Champions League.

Xabi Alonso is seen as the one in charge of picking up the baton to catch up with the most prestigious coaches in the world. He has a triplet ahead of him to certify that he is the coach of the moment, the coach of the future…

PABLO ROMERO

Editor of EL TIEMPO

@PabloRomeroET

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