Xabi Alonso was appointed to the position of head coach at Bayer 04 Leverkusen in October 2022. The Spaniard had performed the same function for his homeland club of Real Sociedad in the Basque city of San Sebastian with the second team. Alonso took his first steps in coaching with the youth teams at Real Madrid where he met his assistant coach Sebastian Parrilla.
Alonso won a large number of trophies as a player. In 2004 he moved from northern Spain to to play for Liverpool for five years and that was followed by five years at Real Madrid. Alonso spent the last three years of his playing career at Bayern Munich. The world class midfielder has won the World Cup once, the European Championships twice, two Champions League titles as well as numerous national titles.
Date of birth: 25.11.1981
At club since: 10/2022
Previous coaching positions: Real Madrid (Spain), Real Sociedad (Spain)
The Werkself are back in the Eternal City with the UEFA Europa League final once again in their sights. It was a year ago that they lost the semi-final first leg here 1-0 and subsequently missed out on the showpiece. Now Xabi Alonso’s side again face Roma with a chance to put that right, starting with Thursday’s first leg (kick-off at 9pm CEST). Ahead of the game, Alonso and former Roma man Patrik Schick spoke at the press conference about a change of approach and the opposition’s new coach.
Show moreAfter three consecutive weeks of playing midweek, the Werkself have been preparing for the top-of-the-table clash against VfB Stuttgart over the past few days. Ahead of the home game on Saturday 27 April (kick-off 18:30 CEST, live on Sky), head coach Xabi Alonso praised the third-placed visitors and gave an update on the state of the pitch as well as personnel.
Show moreJust hours after progressing to the UEFA Europa League semi-finals, Werkself head coach Xabi Alonso turned his attention to the team’s next task as they visit Borussia Dortmund on Sunday (kick-off: 5.30pm CEST). Ahead of the Bayer 04’s first Bundesliga game as champions, the Spaniard spoke from the team’s hotel in London about further goals for this season and facing the Champions League semi-finalists.
Show moreAfter the week’s celebrations of the club’s first ever league title, Bayer 04 are now focused once again on their UEFA Europa League quarter-final second leg away at West Ham United on Thursday (kick-off: 9pm CEST). The Werkself are in a good position with a 2-0 lead from the first game, but it’s not over yet, as head coach Xabi Alonso and midfielder Granit Xhaka stressed at their pre-match press conference in London on Wednesday evening.
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