Xabi Alonso defuses the summit: No pressure and no worries about Tah

Policy of a steady hand: Xabi Alonso exudes confidence before the summit and relies on defense chief Jonathan Tah.
IMAGO/Sven Simon

One thing is clear even before the summit in Munich. There won’t be a big party even if Leverkusen is successful. The tight schedule alone rules out a visit to Oktoberfest. “We play against Milan on Tuesday. We don’t have time for it,” Xabi Alonso quickly brushed off the topic on Friday and emphasized, with a view to the top game in the league and the following Champions League game: “We are facing a big week.”, a very important one.

This applies even more in the league than in the premier class, in which Bayer won 4-0 at Feyenoord Rotterdam at the start. In the championship, the champions are threatened with a six-point deficit in first place if they lose in Munich on Saturday. A constellation that needs to be prevented.

Nevertheless, Xabi Alonso does not see his team under any increased pressure in Munich – not even after winning the double last season. “No, it’s only the fifth day of the game. There are 30 games left. Our focus is only on the game in the Allianz Arena and on FC Bayern. There is no more pressure for us this season,” claims the Spaniard.

A logical statement. It wouldn’t make any sense to put an additional burden on his team, which had recently been defensively vulnerable before the game and had ideally started the season with twelve points and 16:3 goals, with an additional burden by classifying the party in Munich as trend-setting. Even if it can of course send a signal for the rest of the season – positive or negative.

Xabi Alonso appears humble and warns against Bayern (“It’s perhaps the toughest game in the Bundesliga season”), praises the new coach (“Vincent Kompany’s influence has been very good so far”) and emphasizes “about something “To take us from Munich, we need a quick, perfect performance,” but still exudes confidence.

Xabi Alonso brushes off any concerns with Tah

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The 42-year-old is extremely calm about the appearance of Jonathan Tah in Munich, who almost ended up at Bayer last transfer summer. A difficult situation for the 28-year-old national player? Xabi Alonso doesn’t believe this and brushes off all concerns.

“I know and I have full confidence that Jona is fully focused to play well tomorrow and help the team, be their defensive leader, defend well, deliver a complete game,” the Leverkusen coach demonstrated composure and emphasized at the back out again: “I’m not worried about that.”

Munich’s defense will offer Wirtz and Co. opportunities

Xabi Alonso also wants and needs to give his players confidence. Why not? After all, the Munich team also showed in the 3-2 win at the start in Wolfsburg or in the 9-2 win against Zagreb in the Champions League, when they almost conceded three goals in a short space of time, that they are quite vulnerable defensively.

Conversely, it wasn’t just the record champions who were in a scoring mood with their 16 goals in four Bundesliga games. Leverkusen’s goal-hungry attack, led by an outstanding Florian Wirtz, which has already scored 13 goals, should also have opportunities on Saturday. Which is why, in addition to the necessary humility, confidence is also appropriate.