Xabi Alonso in CRISIS! Real Madrid still a step too big

Tom Weber

• Updated: 2 Apr 2025 12:14 CDT
• 5 min read

Analysis

Xabi Alonso is in the worst crisis of his still-young coaching career after Bayer Leverkusen were dumped out of the DFB-Pokal semi-final by third-tier Arminia Bielefeld.

The Basque tactician is regarded as one of football's biggest up-and-coming coaching talents after leading Leverkusen to a historic domestic double last season and doing so without losing a single match.

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He notably rejected advances from his former clubs Liverpool and Bayern around this time last year to continue with Bayer for another season. As FootballTransfers recently pointed out, this was the right decision.

The current campaign has been a pretty hard comedown from the high of last term. Leverkusen have struggled to cope with the pressure of being the defending Bundesliga champions and Alonso has shown his inexperience at times.

It is scarcely believable, but this is, of course, still only Alonso's second full season of senior management. It was right for him to stay in a settled environment last year and the hardship of the current season will give him valuable experience.

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Leverkusen's collapse

Leverkusen crashed out of the Champions League against Bayern Munich last month and they are also trailing the Munich outfit in the Bundesliga.

Indeed, after failing to beat the Bavarians in February and then inexplicably losing to Werder Bremen, the six-point difference between German football's top two looks insurmountable.

However, Leverkusen hit a new low - and their worst one yet - on Tuesday evening. The reigning DFB-Pokal champions made the short two-hour trip north to face off against 3. Liga side Arminia Bielefeld in the cup semi-final.

Arminia, who were playing in the Bundesliga just three years ago but suffered double relegations, have been this season's giant killers in the Pokal. They defeated 2. Bundesliga side Hannover and then beat top-flight clubs Union Berlin, Freiburg and Bremen to reach the semis.

They were obviously the underdog against Leverkusen, but they did not play as such. In fact, the third division outfit outplayed the German champions on the day.

Leverkusen only mustered one real chance from open play - in the 81st minute - and succumbed to a 2-1 defeat to hit the lowest point of Alonso's eminently successful reign.

The German press has been fiercely critical of Alonso, the mastermind tactician, after the Bielefeld debacle. The Spaniard himself was forced to admit: "Maybe the plan wasn't good."

The Rheinische Post, echoing the words of CEO Fernando Carro, described Leverkusen's performance as a 'collective failure.' They were uncharacteristically reliant on long balls, which Carro put down to the poor state of the pitch.

However, Kicker believes that this is just a lazy excuse and that Alonso's wrong tactical plan ultimately doomed them to failure. "What's even more serious: Xabi Alonso made no attempt to truly revise it throughout the entire 90 minutes," writes Stephan von Nocks.

The 43-year-old again showed his inexperience and it is becoming clear that his much-talked-about move to Real Madrid would be a step too big too soon.

The expectation in Germany is that Alonso will continue at Leverkusen for another season, but there are murmurs that Real Madrid could look to part ways with Carlo Ancelotti this summer.

Alonso would be the favourite to succeed the legendary Italian, and by all accounts, he would jump at the chance to coach Los Blancos. However, on the basis of this season, Alonso should know that this would be a huge risk for his career.

If this campaign has shown anything, it is that Alonso ought to be patient and continue to hone his skills. The loss to Bielefeld was the latest in a string of unacceptable performances this term. There is still much to learn for a man whom many thought had already seen everything in football.