On Friday, Jurgen Klopp revealed that he would be departing Liverpool at the end of the current campaign.
When talking about the former Liverpool midfielder five years ago, Jose Mourinho predicted that Xabi Alonso would develop into a premier manager.
In 2018, while completing his UEFA credentials, Alonso managed Real Madrid’s under-14 team, marking his first steps into coaching. The next year, he was given the chance to manage Real Sociedad’s B squad, and in his second season there, he assisted the team in moving up from the third division.
With the team in the relegation zone, Bayer Leverkusen made an offer in October 2022, and Alonso turned in a remarkable performance to finish sixth. They have made incredible progress as a result, going head-to-head against Bayern Munich for the Bundesliga title, having not dropped a single league game this season.
In a 2019 interview with Top Eleven, Mourinho foresaw Alonso’s quick ascent, saying, “With Xabi Alonso, you always saw there was a manager there.” Like me, his dad was in the game. His father was a player and a manager while he was growing up, and he went on to become a player—obviously far better than me.
He played in Spain, England, and Germany and was taught by Guardiola at Bayern, by me at Real Madrid, by Ancelotti at Real Madrid, and by Benitez at Liverpool. He had a very high level of game understanding. Thus, when you consider everything, I believe that Xabi meets the requirements to be a highly successful coach.”
In the Europa League semifinals of the previous season, Alonso and Mourinho faced off as AS Roma defeated Leverkusen 1-0 over two legs. Before taking on his former Real Madrid manager, Alonso was all praise for the Portuguese coach, praising his communication abilities as a crucial trait.
“As a novice coach, I have incorporated a lot of what I have learned from all of my coaches into my own personality. Football player Rafa (Benitez) knows how to blend in, lend a hand, and know what to do. ‘Let’s play like this and this will happen,’ Pep (Guardiola) says. He excels at that,” the Spaniard remarked.
“I want to emphasise Mourinho’s ability to speak both intelligently and powerfully. I want to emphasise Luis’s (Aragones) conviction and his capacity to articulate your desires. I learned from Del Bosque to worry about the things that are necessary to worry about. When it comes to conveying what excellent football is and what we need to do, Ancelotti stood out.”
