Liverpool Target Xabi Alonso Says Staying as Leverkusen Coach

Xabi Alonso had been strongly linked to Liverpool but says he is staying at Bayern Leverkusen © Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP/File
Xabi Alonso had been strongly linked to Liverpool but says he is staying at Bayern Leverkusen © Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP/File
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Liverpool Target Xabi Alonso Says Staying as Leverkusen Coach

Xabi Alonso had been strongly linked to Liverpool but says he is staying at Bayern Leverkusen © Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP/File
Xabi Alonso had been strongly linked to Liverpool but says he is staying at Bayern Leverkusen © Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP/File

The 42-year-old Spaniard has Leverkusen on course for a trophy treble, including their first ever German league crown.

"It's been a season of speculation regarding my future," Alonso told a press conference.

"Up till now we have been busy and focused on the season and I wanted to reflect during the international break and take a decision.

"Last week I had a meeting when I informed (Leverkusen's directors) of my decision to continue being coach of Bayer Leverkusen."

Alonso said he was still developing as a coach and he felt Leverkusen, his first senior team coaching post, is the best place for him to continue growing.

"At the moment this is the right place for me to develop as a coach, I am a young coach," he said, AFP reported.

"Right now this is the right place. I have to thank the management.

"The club had been supportive and I feel respected by all departments."

Alonso has a contract until 2026 but had been linked with moves to Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, all clubs where he spent time as a player, having done a stunning job at runaway Bundesliga leaders Leverkusen.

Leverkusen are unbeaten this term with 34 victories and four draws and are 10 points clear of Bayern Munich and on track for their first ever Bundesliga title with eight games remaining this season.

The former Spain midfielder, who was a member of the side that won the Euro in 2008 and 2012 as well as the 2010 World Cup, is aiming to complete a treble.

Aside from topping the table they are in the final four of the German Cup and the quarter-finals of the Europa League and could potentially meet Liverpool in the final.

Alonso's coaching experience was limited to the Real Sociedad B team when he was appointed Leverkusen coach in October 2022, but he showed he had natural talent as a coach as he saved them from relegation.

'Strong link'

With Alonso out of the race to replace Klopp the frontrunners are believed to be Sporting Lisbon head coach Ruben Amorim and Brighton's Italian manager Roberto De Zerbi.

De Zerbi can further impress his potential employers on Sunday as he takes his side to Liverpool and is yet to come off second best against Klopp in four meetings.

Speaking in Liverpool after Alonso had made his announcement, Klopp said he understood his decision.

"He is doing an incredible job there. Leverkusen has a good team and they will probably keep the team together," Klopp said.

"That's a possibility and not all years it is like that. So I understand that he wants to do that."

Klopp shocked the football world when he announced in January he would be standing down from the Liverpool job after a hugely successful nine-year stay.

In 2020 he delivered their first league title since 1990, a year after landing the 2019 Champions League.

Alonso preferred not to comment directly about the Liverpool vacancy or indeed Bayern Munich, who were hoping to attract him to replace Thomas Tuchel, who is leaving at the end of the season.

Tuchel's departure is a consequence of Alonso's success -- should Leverkusen hold their nerve and lift the Bundesliga trophy it will bring to an end Bayern's run of 11 successive league crowns.

"I think it wouldn't be correct of me to talk about other clubs when they are in this situation," said Alonso, who remains a devoted Liverpool fan and encouraged his son to be one as well.

"For sure there are clubs I have a strong link, I play there. So I respect them. But it's not correct for me to talk about them right now.

"It's more that the conviction I am in the right place at Bayer Leverkusen and I want to keep growing with the club, growing with the players.

"I am at this stage in my young career. I had to feel the decision was in a natural way and that's why I have taken it."



Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony: Saudi Team Highlights Cultural Heritage

Saudi athletes wave their country’s flag during the opening parade. (Saudi Olympic Committee)
Saudi athletes wave their country’s flag during the opening parade. (Saudi Olympic Committee)
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Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony: Saudi Team Highlights Cultural Heritage

Saudi athletes wave their country’s flag during the opening parade. (Saudi Olympic Committee)
Saudi athletes wave their country’s flag during the opening parade. (Saudi Olympic Committee)

Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, Chairman of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and his deputy, Prince Fahd bin Jalawi bin Abdulaziz, attended the opening ceremony of the 33rd Olympic Games in Paris.

Held outside the traditional stadiums for the first time in history, the ceremony featured a parade of the 206 participating countries on 100 boats traveling approximately 6 kilometers along the Seine River.

The Saudi show jumping team player, Ramzy Al-Duhami, and his colleague, the Saudi Taekwondo champion Dunya Aboutaleb, raised the Saudi flag at the opening of the world’s largest sporting event.

Al-Duhami expressed his pride in raising the Kingdom’s flag alongside his teammate, noting that it was a dream for any Saudi citizen. He wished success for the Saudi athletes in representing Saudi sports with distinction.

Aboutaleb, in turn, said he was honored to carry the Kingdom’s flag at the Olympic Games, stating: “I aspire to perform at a level that reflects the support and attention given to sports in the Kingdom.”

The Saudi athletes’ uniform was admired by the international media and the audience, who applauded the players the moment their boat appeared on the Seine River.

The designs for the opening ceremony were chosen through a national competition organized by the Saudi Arabian Olympic and Paralympic Committee, with the participation of designers from across the Kingdom.

Out of 128 competing designers, the chosen uniform by Saudi designer Alia Al-Salmi featured traditional men’s thobes and bishts and brightly patterned thobe al-nashal for women, symbolizing the athletes’ pride in their homeland and cultural roots.

Mashael Al-Ayed, 17, will be the first Saudi athlete to compete, taking to the pool for the 200 meters freestyle swimming event on July 28. Al-Ayed is the first female swimmer to represent Saudi Arabia at the Olympics.