Speaking ahead of Bayer Leverkusen’s game against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga on Saturday afternoon, Xabi Alonso (40) discussed his first week in charge and what he expects from his players ahead of a crucial game against Oliver Glasner’s Eintracht.
“They won the Europa League last season and look very solid. We need a lot of energy and have to be ready to fight. It’ll be an important game,” said Alonso. Discussing the defeat against Porto, the Spaniard added: “We did a lot of things well but also made mistakes in our game. Those are immediately punished at the highest level. We have to be more compact against Frankfurt and be better at finding the space up front.”
Appointed as a successor to Gerardo Seoane last week, Alonso won his first game in charge, an impressive 4-0 win against Schalke but suffered a 3-0 defeat against Porto in the Champions League. In his first management role at the highest level, Alonso added: “We’ve spent the first week working together on getting to know each other. Now we’re working on finding our identity and building team spirit.”
GGFN | Daniel Pinder
