Leverkusen, German champion: Xabi Alonso, the triumph of the fine strategist from San Sebastian

A fine strategist during his playing career in contact with the best technicians on the planet, the Basque from San Sebastian Xabi Alonso perfectly succeeded in his transition from the field to the coaching bench, with a first title in his first major experience.

On May 20, 2017, Xabi Alonso walked on a pitch with crampons on his feet for the last time in his career, at the age of 35. A 34th day of the Bundesliga with the Bayern Munich jersey, assured of a new German champion title, at the Allianz Arena in front of 75,000 spectators. Did the Basque already think at the time that he would be, seven years later, the one who would put an end to Bayern's unprecedented hegemony over German football and eleven consecutive league titles (2013-2023)? And with Bayer Leverkusen?

One thing is certain: by signing for Bayern in the summer of 2014, he wanted to take advantage of his last years to be in contact with Pep Guardiola, and already look into his future. “I tried to be curious about the job of manager, not just playing. I asked to be close to them. I was already wondering where I would be a few years later,” explained Xabi Alonso in an interview given in November to some media, including AFP.

European (2008 and 2012) and world (2010) champion with Spain, Xabi Alonso also won the Champions League with Liverpool (2005) and Real Madrid (2014) and national championships in Spain and Germany . A native of Tolosa, a few kilometers from San Sebastian in the Spanish Basque Country where he spent his childhood, he grew up during his playing career in contact with the greatest coaches. Before joining Bavaria, during his last season at Real he worked alongside Carlo Ancelotti, whom he will find for the last year of his career at Bayern.

But his first source of inspiration as a technician, he explains, he draws it from his father, Periko, a former Spanish international in the early 1980s (20 caps). As a child, Xabi watched him prepare for his matches when he was in charge of the Real Sociedad reserves in the early 1990s.

It was also at the San Sebastian club that he learned his lessons on the bench, also with the reserves, after coaching the Real Madrid youth teams. “Xabi Alonso has always been a strategist, on the pitch he was in the center. He had this vision at the time. He also knew how his teammates and opponents acted,” recalled his former Bayern teammate Philipp Lahm, who ended his career at the same time, in a recent interview with AFP.

Without wanting to skip ahead, Xabi Alonso then studied the offers made to him and it was ultimately that of Leverkusen, stuck in the bottom of the Bundesliga at the start of the 2022/23 financial year, which attracted his attention, evoking a part of “intuition”. Old memories of his time in Munich, he made the effort from his first speech, and subsequently, to express himself in the language of Goethe, as Guardiola had done in his time when he arrived at Bayern.

With Olympian calm in front of the press, he can sometimes move around in his area at the edge of the field to give his instructions and let his joy burst forth, like the few times his team has managed extremely narrowly this season. He himself admits that he lacks the land. “I shouldn’t say it but yes. I miss it when I prepare for matches and am on the sidelines,” slips mischievously the one who calls himself “Basque, totally Basque, now with a great Germanic influence”.

A supporter of giving his players freedom on the field, he believes that he is not a “fundamentalist who demands that we play in a certain way and who says that this is the only way to play”, drawing inspiration from “ master” Ancelotti for human management. Always a strategist, he announced at the end of March that he would stay at Leverkusen next season. He thus prefers to try to succeed Jürgen Klopp, not on the bench of the Reds but as double coach of Bayern in Germany (2011 and 2012 with Dortumund).