MIRACLE MAN

QUIET AND UNASSUMING, XABI ALONSO HAS EMERGED AS ONE OF THE TOP COACHES IN WORLD FOOTBALL

- Nick Said

Xabi Alonso instantly announced himself as the best young up-and-coming coach in world football when he led Bayer Leverkusen through an incredible 2023/24 season in which they lost only one game and were invincible in the Bundesliga.

It is a first ever league title for the 120-year-old club, who had been runnersup on five previous occasions before Spaniard Alonso got them over the line in style.

They finished 17 points ahead of second-placed Stuttgart, with perennial winners Bayern Munich relegated to third, and won 28 and drew six of their 34 Bundesliga games.

Alonso's side scored 89 goals and conceded only 24 for a massive +65 goal-difference that further highlighted their superiority.

Added to that, Alonso also took Leverkusen to the 'Double' as they won the German Cup for only the second time in their history. The one slight blemish on their most remarkable season was a 3-0 defeat to Italian side Atalanta in the final of the UEFA Europa League. That was their only loss in a season that contained 53 games in all competitions, of which they won 43 and drew nine.

Alonso, a 2010 World Cup winner with Spain who played for top clubs Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, had only coached the B side of Real Sociedad in senior football before he was appointed by Leverkusen in 2022.

Before that he had also led the Real Madrid under-14s while he completed his UEFA Pro Licence.

At Sociedad he took the B team into the second level in Spain, but then could not keep them there as the team were relegated, and he left the club.

When he took over Leverkusen in October 2022 the club were second bottom in the league and looking like relegation candidates.

But he clicked quickly with the players and they, with his tactical plan, finished a very credible sixth in 2022/23, though no-one expected what was to come.