Xabi Alonso is the revolution

Everything was smiles at Bayern Munich until Xabi Alonso crossed the path of the German champion. VThe Bavarians had to eliminate PSG in the Champions League and distance Dortmund in the Bundesliga, living in a state of collective euphoria that the Tolosa native put an end to. It should be remembered that Xabi Alonso took charge of Leverkusen in relegation places and has returned him to the fight for Europe.

With a total of 27 points still to be distributed, the group of aspirins is in eighth position in the table and only 3 points from that sixth place currently occupied by Eintracht Frankfurt which gives access to the continental competition. In addition, Bayer is still alive in the Europa League, where they start as favorites in the quarterfinals against Belgian Union Saint-Gilloise. In just half a year, Xabi Alonso has revolutionized Leverkusen. And the Bundesliga, by the way, too.

His Leverkusen was the first team to beat Bayern in more than a month, thus causing Nagelsmann’s team to say goodbye to the break in second position in the table behind Dortmund. Xabi Alonso is to blame for the nerves in the Allianz Arena being on the surface again.

“I have rarely seen anything like this”, were the words of sports director Hasan Salihamidzic as soon as the final whistle sounded at the BayArena. “We failed in everything and we were overwhelmed by a team that had just played on Thursday. Today we have been inferior in all aspects. This is not Bayern. There was so little push, mentality, duels. This team is good when the mentality is there from the beginning, but just as bad when it doesn’t show mentality and believes that it can do everything only with its quality”, he charged against his players.

A figure for Alonso

With just 9 days to go, the German liner fears for what would be its eleventh consecutive salad bowl. If he loses the German classic against Borussia just after the break (April 1), he would be 4 points behind a BVB that dreams of its first title since 2012, the year in which Klopp’s historic Dortmund team was proclaimed champion. “We all know how to read the table. We have all seen our performance today. Winning against Dortmund is an obligation to get back to two points”explained midfielder Kimmich.

One of the secrets of the Rhenish victory was in the figure of Andrich, a midfielder who Xabi Alonso delayed to turn him into a kind of libero. “We were analyzing a lot and thinking about what we could do. We know that Bayern are very flexible in attack. That’s why we wanted a flexible player who could play both in defense and as a midfielder. Rob has done incredibly well. How he has understood the position, how he has incorporated. I think he has enjoyed it”, concluded the Spanish coach after the feat against his former club.