Xabi Alonso’s first full season as a manager at Bayer Leverkusen is absolutely unheard of. 18 months ago, when he first took over, the team was in a relegation position in the Bundesliga and have went so many years without winning silverware. Now they’ve just won the Bundesliga in a dominant way, they’re in contention to win a treble and all of his while going 40+ games unbeaten. For the people who think that Harry Kane’s “trophy curse” ended Bayern Munich’s dominance, I’m sorry but you don’t watch football because even the best version of Bayern Munich cannot compete with this Leverkusen team that’s how good they’ve been. To have that sort of an impact over an 18 month period is incredible. He has made this team invisible, and you can see how entertaining they are going forward, he’s a little more pragmatic with his style of play and this team is also resilient. When you’ve worked under the greatest managers ever: Rafa Benitez- Liverpool Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti- Real Madrid and Pep Guardiola- Bayern Munich, you wonder why he’s doing so well as a manager and Mourinho predicted that he would be a great coach. This is a team that at the moment, they’re refusing to lose a game because when their unbeaten streak is on the line, they turn into prime Real Madrid late in the game scoring a goal or 2 in stoppage time to win or draw the game. They’ve done it time and time again “Neverkusen” more like “Neverlusen” and even the players on this team don’t know what it’s like to even lose a game because assuming they win the treble and go unbeaten, they would go a full year without losing a game assuming this happens. It’s not just the manager that has done very well, so many of their players have been brilliant. In the summer I thought that the loss of Moussa Diaby would be a massive blow, but instead they became even stronger and made some very smart additions to the squad and that’s another thing that has played a role in their success and with a manager like Alonso you have a very good coach a system that he wants to implement and the right players around him at his disposal. You look at clubs like Chelsea and Manchester United they’re a prime example on how spending money doesn’t always correlate to success. You look at Chelsea now, they’re a much worse team now than they were 3 years ago when they won the champions league yet have spent over a billion dollars. Manchester United have been spending a lot of money in recent years and under Erik ten Hag they’ve spent over 300 million on transfers and they’re the same team now as they were at the start of his project. Their transfers have been so impactful to the team. Before his injury, Victor Boniface was just cooking, scoring so many goals winning Bundesliga Player of the Month all the time and was the perfect striker for Xabi Alonso’s system and without him they did well as Patrik Shick returned to his EURO 2020 form, and stepped up in his absence. Granit Xhaka has been a key player with how he’s been pulling the strings in midfield and his signing truly elevated the team as they’re direct with a guy who has excellent passing range and vision and is also very impactful in the game. Alex Grimaldo was signed on a free transfer and along with Jeremie Frimpong from the fullback position, they’ve put up staggering numbers with their goals and assists and their role in Alonso’s system they’re basically wingbacks responsible for creating chances and scoring goals themselves. Barcelona really missed out on what could’ve been because everyone knows that Grimaldo was part of La Masia and when he was at Benfica he was a quality LB and was seen as the right player to replace Jordi Alba in the long run, unfortunately that didn’t happen. When you’re able to spend well even if you don’t pay 100 million for that player, football isn’t just about spending a lot of money, it’s about how you spent and whether or not it correlates directly to winning and without their recruitment, Bayer Leverkusen don’t go on to have this amazing undefeated streak. Xabi Alonso is the next great manager as in one full season, this team became inevitable knowing that whatever happens they won’t lose a game learning from all of the coaches that he played under has helped him install his philosophies and you can how it’s been implemented at Bayer Leverkusen and he’s been the driving force of their historic run. He’s been so good that every team in Europe wants him and Liverpool are in need of a replacement for Jurgen Klopp same thing with Thomas Tuchel at Bayern Munich, he’s staying at Bayer Leverkusen for another season and that’s good for his managerial growth and the competitive balance of the Bundesliga and this means that for a while they’ll be able to hold onto players like Florian Wirtz for example. Right now, Real Madrid don’t need a managerial change because Carlo Ancelotti is doing so well, they’re about to win the league, they’ll probably win the champions league again and has done incredible work on a team that has been without an elite striker and has had a makeshift defense, but if he decides to leave very soon, Alonso will be the best Madrid manager in the future. Apart from Zinedine Zidane, we’ve seen legendary players have mixed results as a manager meaning that great players don’t always become great managers and Xabi Alonso is on track to being an elite manager and he’s the next great coach.

Amazing that Xabier played under Aragones, Del Bosque, Benitez, Mourinho, Guardiola, and Ancelotti. Even more amazing is that the Germany Team was a machine during Its golden era but Xabi was part of the Spanish team that outplayed and beat Germany in the Euro 2008 final and the World Cup 2010 semi-final. Seems fitting that his leverkusen team thrashed Bayern. There's still plenty of room for improvement.

The player who’s been the driving force of Bayer Leverkusen’s success this season has been Florian Wirtz. While all the attention has been focused on Jude Bellingham and other young players in the Premier League (Phil Foden Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer), what Wirtz has done this season has been superb. His return from his injury proved to be critical for them as he ended last season on a high when he came back, the current season he’s been on fire. At the age of 20, he has 17 goals and 19 assists 36 G/A in all competitions including 11 goals and 10 assists in the Bundesliga alone. Considering his age those stats are impressive and he’s a much better player now than he was before his injury. He has been the best player on a team that’s making history. His technical skill creativity and ability to score goals allows him to be versatile and play almost everywhere from CAM to winger to even a SS CF at times and they benefit from having a player of his caliber and it elevates the team overall. He doesn’t have the PR of someone like Jude Bellingham since he’s playing for Real Madrid, and he’s English or other players who are in the premier league, you can’t deny that he’s been one of the best players in the world just off of this season. He’s probably a Ballon Dor candidate this year especially if Bayer Leverkusen wins the treble go undefeated and also if Germany makes a deep run at the EUROs and possibly win it this summer. Players like Kylian Mbappe Harry Kane Jude Bellingham Vinicius Junior Phil Foden and Rodri are genuine Ballon Dor contenders, Wirtz should absolutely be in that conversation because he’s the best player at Bayer Leverkusen he has over 15+ goals and 15+ assists and while Germany aren’t playing at their very best right now, they have a strong squad on paper and you can’t count them out at the EUROs especially since the tournament will be played in their home. He went from having a major injury to leading Bayer Leverkusen to the Bundesliga title and being in Ballon Dor talks and every top club is interested in signing him and whoever gets him are getting a special player.

anotha absolute BANGER of a video. youre the xabi alonso of youtube my guy

Most entertaining football is always in the Bundesliga.

King Xabi

Xavi Alonso is a great Manager and very tactical , I think he should stay @ bayern leverkusen 2 more seasons to polish and ply his trade. That will work in his favour. Morinho left clubs when they were successful and that's what sets him apart from Guadiola because he can whither the storm where as Morinho can build world class teams but at he can't win big tournaments like Uefa champions league and club world cup. Morinho is a big headed Manager with a world class pedigree.

If Xabi went to Liverpool that’s football heritage

After seeing how Xabi was able to transform Leverkusen I wish he could come to spurs (it will never happen though 😢)

Grimaldo on a free is just stupefying...the return on investment there is insane!

xabi alonso is really hot