Xabi Alonso interview with Jorge Valdano for ‘Universo Valdano’

Xabi Alonso on…

…parallels between how he played as a player and his style now as a coach: “As a holding midfielder, I believe my role back then was to make players around me better, make the game easier for them. It’s sort of the same as a coach. You try to take a step back and put yourself at the service of others, try to implement your joint vision and improve the quality in general.”

…his start at Bayer 04: “The start was difficult. I knew the Bundesliga, the club and also the players to a certain extent. That helped, of course. However, at the start we had to work on all the psychological aspects since the team was going through a bad spell. That’s why my first months were characterised more by mental work. I wanted the players to feel positive again.”

…how last season ended: “In general I’m satisfied with how it went. In difficult circumstances, we managed to turn things around achieved a pleasing result [sixth place in the Bundesliga to qualify for the UEFA Europa League]. That’s how we created an optimistic environment for this season.”

…the current season and the growing expectations: “The season has gone well so far – very well in fact. But when you’re right at the top of the table, there are greater expectations. It’s nothing new in football. We’re happy to have fulfilled those expectations up till now. Now it’s about maintaining that high level. That’s the big challenge. We’ll keep chasing our ambitions, but we also know there’s a long way to go.”

…his team’s style of play: “I think circumstances are better for us this season. We have a profile of team that allows us to dominate and control games. That was different last season, when we were more a reactive team.”

…the new signings who have had an immediate impact: “We couldn’t be certain that the players would perform so well straightaway. But we were obviously confident that our changes in personnel would have a quick effect. I’m thinking above all about [Alejandro] Grimaldo, Granit [Xhaka] and Jonas [Hofmann]. With Victor [Boniface], he’s still very young, maybe we didn’t expect this so quickly from him. But obviously we’re also very pleased that he’s made such a good impact as well.”

…fellow Spaniard Alejandro Grimaldo: “I knew him and had analysed him a lot, but he’s exceeded expectations so far. His quality, the way he understands the game, how he impacts the game and has found his feet here, it’s impressed me. As a coach, you can teach a lot, but only to a certain extent.”