Xabi Alonso has turned things around at Bayer Leverkusen, but the hard work has just begun

Gegenpressing spoke to the Bayer Leverkusen head coach and some of his star players this week, to find out how the Werkself are turing things around

It might have just been a friendly against St. Louis City SC (3-0), slammed between matchday 15 of the Bundesliga and the World Cup break. Still, Bayer Leverkusen head coach Xabi Alonso displayed a real sense of urgency.

The 40-year-old Spaniard paced his coaching zone and actively gave commands to his players, taking them aside to speak to them individually. It was the sort of performance you would only see from Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.

“Well, it was very cold,” Alonso said with a big smile on his face after the St. Louis friendly that was played in a subzero environment, when asked about his active coaching style. “I was going to get warmer by moving more. No, I wanted to take it as seriously as we could, and I wanted to convey that message throughout the game.”

The match against St. Louis has to be seen in a context of a friendly, of course. The expansion side played good football but also used many academy players. As a result, it was not the opponent that Bayer or Alonso will take as a yardstick going forward.

At the same time, when one puts the game into a wider context, this is just the latest positive result for the club under Alonso. Leverkusen have now won three games in a row in the Bundesliga, beating Union Berlin (5-0), Köln (2-1), and Stuttgart (2-0).