Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso speaks to TNT Sports about his side’s mentality and style of football ahead of their UEFA Europa League final against Serie A side Atalanta on Wednesday evening. Alonso’s side are on a remarkable unbeaten run in all competitions this season and could finish the campaign as treble winners in only the Spaniard’s second season in charge of the Bundesliga club.
Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso says his side work on “good football, not flashy football” as they pursue a historic treble.
In just the Spaniard’s second season in charge, Leverkusen are on a record-breaking unbeaten run that has seen his side win the Bundesliga title for the first time ever – ending Bayern Munich’s 11-year stranglehold on the division – and are into the final of both the DFB Cup and the UEFA Europa League.
Despite their remarkable campaign, Alonso insists he has not yet reflected on what Leverkusen have achieved so far.
“I have enough things on my plate to think about than ‘how good’ or ‘how nice’ we are,” he told TNT Sports ahead of his side’s clash with Atalanta in Dublin on Wednesday.
“In 10 days maybe I will stop and think we are doing something exceptional.
“We are not that stupid to say ‘oh no, I don’t care’. I’m really happy about it. Not to say it many more times, you become better because you are able to show it once again and that’s why I try to push the guys.
“We don’t take any game for granted and we don’t rest on our laurels. That’s my job.”
Alonso has caught the attention of Europe’s biggest clubs this season and has been consistently linked with the head coach role at Real Madrid and Liverpool as a successor to either Carlo Ancelotti or the departing Jurgen Klopp at Anfield.
In March, the former Liverpool, Bayern and Real midfielder brought an end to the speculation by confirming he will remain as Leverkusen’s head coach next season.
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Alonso’s side are renowned for playing an attractive brand of football. When asked how he likes his team to play, he says his team simply focus on basic principles.
“I like to play good football,” he said.
“Entertain with good football. Not with flashy football, but with good football things. What I understand are good football things are to make good passes, runs, to do defence well. Those are the ones.
“After that, once you have those things as principles, you see the flashy things. But we don’t work on the flashy things or the spectacular things. We work on the basic, classic good things.
“A one v one situation where you don’t train those things… a great last pass to Patrik [Schick] or Jeremie [Frimpong]. That’s the talent. The talent is difficult to work on. Either you have it or don’t have it.
“To shine that talent you can work on a lot of things. So many of those spectacular things, I don’t take any credit for them.”