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Xabi Alonso before the game against Bayern
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Leon Kuegeler/Getty Images
Jürgen Klopp has raved highly about fellow coach Xabi Alonso of Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen. “Xabi is doing an incredible job,” said Klopp, who will be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season, according to English media. Alonso, who played for the Reds from 2004 to 2009 and won the Champions League in 2005, is the favorite to succeed Klopp for many media in England. But Klopp assured that his praise was independent of that. He was not involved in the search.
"The dinosaurs, if you like - Ancelotti, Mourinho, Guardiola, maybe me - we won't be there for the next 20 years - okay, Mourinho maybe," Klopp said with a laugh: "The next generation is already here. And Xabi is outstanding. Even as a player he was like a coach. The football he plays, the teams he fields, the transfers he makes – it’s absolutely extraordinary.”
“He left his mark on the team”
What impresses him about Leverkusen, who can hope for titles in three competitions, is “not just the number of points, but also the way they play.” In the 3-0 win against FC Bayern last Saturday, “Leverkusen was clear about that better team, and that's rare." When Klopp beat Bayern during his time at Borussia Dortmund, he achieved it with a mixture of very good defending, counterattacking and "taking momentum." Leverkusen, on the other hand, “was simply better.”
That was »the real surprise. Especially when you consider how short a time Xabi has been there and that it is a young team. Klopp thinks he has left his mark on the team in a short time. »Nobody knows if that's how he always wants to play or if it's the way he plays specifically with this team. He hasn't been in the business long enough to judge that. But it’s obvious how big the coach’s influence is here.”
kjo/dpa