Bayer Leverkusen appeared in October 2022 with the club in the relegation zone and Alonso ends the season in sixth place, an impressive turnaround. They have made remarkable progress this season as they challenge Bayern Munich for the Bundesliga title without losing a single league game.
Mourinho predicted Alonso’s rapid rise in an interview with Top Eleven in 2019. “With Xabi Alonso, we always saw the presence of the director. Like me, his father was a gamer. He grew up with a father who was both a player and a coach and became a much better player than me.”His knowledge of the game was very good, he played in Spain, England and Germany and he coached Guardiola at Bayern Munich, me at Real Madrid, Ancelotti at Real Madrid and Benítez at Liverpool.” “Overall, I would say that Xavi has the potential to be a very good coach. Alonso and Mourinho met in the Europa League semi-finals last season when AS Roma beat Leverkusen 1-0 in the second leg. Ahead of the match with the former Real Madrid manager, Alonso was full of praise for the Portuguese coach, citing his communication skills as a key quality.
Jose Mourinho predicted Xabi Alonso could be the best manager ever when he spoke about the former Liverpool midfielder five years ago. Alonso’s first foray into coaching came in 2018 when Real Madrid’s under-14 team received a UEFA badge. The following year gave him the opportunity to manage Real Sociedad’s B team, and in his second season at the club he helped them to promotion from the third division.
