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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
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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."

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Flotilla on Seine, Rain and Celine Dion Mark Start of Paris Olympics

Members of delegations are seen during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Members of delegations are seen during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Flotilla on Seine, Rain and Celine Dion Mark Start of Paris Olympics

Members of delegations are seen during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Members of delegations are seen during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron declared the Olympic Games open on Friday after a soaking wet ceremony in which athletes were cheered by the crowd along the Seine, dancers took to the roofs of Paris and Lady Gaga sang a French cabaret song.

France's three-time Olympic gold medalists Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner then lit the Olympic cauldron, suspended on a hot-air balloon, before Canada's Celine Dion sang Edith Piaf's "Hymn to Love", in her first public performance in years, drawing huge cheers from the crowd.

The 30-meter (98 ft) high balloon carrying a 7-meter diameter ring of fire took to the air and was hovering dozens of meters above the ground.

It will be in the air from sunset until 2 am local time every day, organizers said.

"We are so proud of this show, I'm so proud that sport and culture were celebrated in such a fantastic manner tonight, it was a first and the result was fantastic despite the rain," Paris 2024 organizing president Tony Estanguet told reporters.

A fleet of barges took the competitors on a 6 km-stretch of the river alongside some of the French capital's most famous landmarks, as performers recreated some of the sports to be showcased in the Games on floating platforms.

It was the first time that an opening ceremony has taken place outside a stadium, adding to the headaches for a vast security operation, just hours after a sabotage attack on the high-speed TGV rail network caused travel chaos across France.

"I invite everybody: dream with us. Like the Olympic athletes, be inspired with the joy that only sport can give us. Let us celebrate this Olympic spirit of living in peace," International Olympics Committee President Thomas Bach said as the ceremony came to an end at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

More than 10,500 athletes will compete at the Olympics, 100 years since Paris last staged the Games. Competition started on Wednesday and the first of the 329 gold medals will be awarded on Saturday.

As the show started four hours earlier, a giant plume of blue, white and red smoke, resembling the French flag, was sent high above a bridge over the Seine as part of a show that included many postcard-like depictions of France, including a huge cancan line performed by Moulin Rouge dancers on the banks.

A more modern image of the country was on display when French-Malian pop star Aya Nakamura, the most-listened to French female singer in the world, sang some of her biggest hits, accompanied by the French Republican Guard's army choir.

Nakamura's performance drew some of the ceremony's biggest cheers. Rumors of her inclusion had sparked a row over French identity, with supporters saying she represented the vibrancy of modern-day France while her detractors said her music owes more to foreign influences than French.

POURING RAIN

While the celebration of French culture, fashion and history was warmly cheered by many of the 300,000 spectators lining the river, hundreds were seen leaving early as the rain fell.

"It was good other than the rain, it was nice, it was different, instead of being in a stadium being on the river, so that's always a good thing - interesting, unique," said Avid Pureval, 34, who came to the Games from Ohio.

"Once you're wet, it's fine," he said. Still, he was heading back to his hotel after the French boat passed, long before the ceremony ended.

"It would have been better with sun," said Josephine, from Paris, sitting beside her 9-year-old daughter and who paid 1,600 euros ($1,736) for her seat.

With many world leaders and VIPs present, the ceremony was protected by snipers on rooftops. The Seine's riverbed was swept for bombs, and Paris' airspace was closed.

Some 45,000 police and thousands of soldiers were deployed in a huge security operation in Paris for the ceremony. Armed police patrolled along the river in inflatable boats as the armada made its passage along the Seine.

WELCOMED IN TAHITI

A mix of French and international stars, including soccer great Zinedine Zidane, 14-times French Open champion Rafa Nadal, 23-times Grand Slam champion Serena Williams and three paralympic athletes were among the last torchbearers before the cauldron was lit.

It will blaze until the closing ceremony on Aug. 11.

At the start of the parade, applause erupted for the Greek boat - the first delegation, by tradition - and there were even bigger cheers for the boat that followed, carrying the refugees' team. The French, US and Ukrainian delegations also got loud cheers.

The two most decorated athletes in the Games' history, Michael Phelps and Martin Fourcade, unveiled the gold, silver and bronze medals.

At one point, there was a live crossover to the early morning welcome ceremony at the surfing venue, 16,000 km away in the Pacific island of Tahiti.

ISRAEL DELEGATION

France is at its highest level of security, though officials have repeatedly said there was no specific threat to the opening ceremony or the Games.

But since the last Games - the Winter Olympics held in Beijing in 2022 - wars have erupted in Ukraine and Gaza, providing a tense international backdrop.

Israeli competitors are being escorted by elite tactical units to and from events and are given 24-hour protection throughout the Olympics due to the war in Gaza, officials say.

The Israel delegation got some boos, but also a lot of cheers, as it sailed by spectators, Reuters reporters saw. Chants of "Palestine! Palestine! Palestine!" rose from the crowd as the boat passed.

Macron, who won a second mandate two years ago, had hoped the Olympics would cement his legacy. But his failed bet on a snap legislative election has weakened him and cast a shadow over his moment on the international stage.