Xabi Alonso once defined his idea of football as “to control, to organise, to make my teammates play better.” Control, in particular, is a concept that has come up in almost every interview he’s ever conducted.
This is evident in his Bayer Leverkusen side, who are outguning Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga after the joint-best start in the league’s history, unbeaten having won 19 of 23 games.
To get the nerdy stats stuff out of the way early – Leverkusen have touched the ball more times this season than any other Bundesliga side (19069), a signifier of the control Alonso is aiming to exert.
They have completed more passes too – 14417 to Bayern Munich’s 13536. Of those passes, a league-high 8367 have been short, nearly 2000 more than Bayern, at a frankly ridiculous 92.7 per cent completion rate. Leverkusen are only 14th in the Bundesliga for long passes, but have the third-highest completion rate – 62.4 per cent.
This is the product of a team built in Alonso’s image. A player who would regularly manage more than 100 passes per game at Pep Guardiola’s Bayern understands the value of high-volume passing, how to effectively utilise it. He also understands the mechanics of passing and has been able to educate his players about it.
In 2018, he explained: “When I make a pass, my goal is for [my team-mate] to have the best possible way. For example, if I pass to the left, he may have more problems to turn, so I pass to his right foot. That’s my idea: to create a pass with an advantage.”
And that’s what he has taught his players at Leverkusen – how to pass with an advantage. Rune Gjerulff, editor of Bulinews.com, tells i: “It’s very difficult to get the ball off them – they can really frustrate teams the way they move the ball around. Alonso changed the system to a 3-4-2-1, which works very well for them.
“They’re a very intense team to play against, they have a lot of pace, a lot of physicality, so much creativity. They’re just very good at combining – it’s difficult to predict how they will create chances.”
Alonso has been able to combine his own experience as a World Cup and two-time Champions League-winning defensive midfielder with the teachings of the foremost coaches of the modern era. He played under Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid, Guardiola at Bayern, Rafa Benitez at Liverpool and Vicente del Bosque with Spain.
Alonso has previously explained what he learned from each manager: “Rafa is football, tactics: how to fit in, how to help, what to do. Pep tells you: ‘Let’s play like this and this will happen’.
“From Mourinho I highlight the strength and intelligence he has to communicate. From Luis Aragones, I’d like to highlight his conviction and his ability to define what you wanted. Del Bosque taught me to worry about the things you have to worry about.”
Alongside this, Leverkusen have been supported by one of the most successful transfer windows in recent memory. Nigerian striker Victor Boniface, Arsenal outcast Granit Xhaka, former Gladbach midfielder Jonas Hofmann and Alejandro Grimaldo from Benfica have all started every league game since joining in the summer. Twenty-three-year-old Boniface has seven goals and five assists in the Bundesliga, Hofmann five goals and eight assists, wing-back Grimaldo eight goals and 10 assists.
Yet Xhaka has been perhaps most crucial. As German journalist and author Uli Hesse explains, “Signing Granit Xhaka was a really smart move. Leverkusen haven’t been known for steely players like him, maybe he was the type of character they’ve been missing all along.”
Xhaka speaks incredibly highly of working with Alonso, saying he and Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta “think the same, they work the same.” Alonso lacks Arteta’s intense magnetism and desire to forge a cult of personality, but his reputation means players hang onto every softly spoken word in each of his four languages – Spanish, Basque, English and German. He’s not a great orator, but demands a consistently high standard in training and appears a natural motivator.
And the success of Leverkusen’s signings is largely down to Alonso’s ability to assimilate them. The footballer who aimed to always make his teammates better now knows instinctively how to improve those he manages.
Another key principle of his play is his disregard of tackling – he’s previously said “I don’t think tackling is a quality. It is something you have to resort to, not a characteristic of your game.” Leverkusen have made the fewest tackles per game of any team in Europe’s top five leagues this season, yet they are second in the Bundesliga for tackles in the final third, a clear Guardiolan influence.
Alongside Boniface, Hofmann, Xhaka and Grimaldo, Die Werkself can rely on attacking midfield prodigy Florian Wirtz, wing-back Jeremie Frimpong, World Cup-winning central midfielder Exequiel Palacios and a central defensive trio of Jonathan Tah, Odilon Kossounou and Edmond Tapsoba.
This is where cracks begin to appear in Leverkusen’s table-topping form. They lack depth in key positions and have been incredibly fortunate so far with injuries, starting the same XI in eight of their first 11 league games. Much like Tottenham Hotspur under Ange Postecoglou, they could mount a serious title challenge if everyone stays fit, but that is incredibly unlikely.
There are other comparisons between Leverkusen and Spurs. The Rhine club haven’t won a trophy since a cup win in 1992-93, finishing as Bundesliga runners-up five times. There’s something distinctly “Spursy” about them. As Hesse says, “Leverkusen have a reputation for signing good young players and playing pleasing attacking football. Ahead of every season, someone will say ‘this could be Bayer Leverkusen’s season’, but something always goes wrong.
“They have a reputation for folding after the winter break. Generally, there’s a sense that we’ve been here before. The first-team under Alonso is really good and if everything goes right, they can certainly give Bayern a run for their money, but these are big ifs.”
There is also a sense the Alonso era in Leverkusen won’t last long. Backed by pharmaceutical giants Bayer, the club have the money to hold onto him, but their CEO has said they will only keep him as long as he wants to stay. Former clubs Real Madrid, Liverpool and Bayern have all been linked, with Ancelotti departing the Spanish giants next summer. Alonso has also previously called his son Jontxu “a little Scouser.” His departure is matter of when, not if.
The same goes for many of their key players. Tah is linked with a January move to Newcastle, while Boniface, Wirtz and Tapsoba are also highly coveted.
It is unclear where Leverkusen will go from here, but the same cannot be said of Alonso. Whether to Anfield, the Allianz or the Bernabeu, he is only going up.