Xabi Alonso is the only coach in world football that could be realistically replacing Carlo Ancelotti in Real Madrid, believes former Madrid Wideman Royston Drenthe.
Alonso announced on Friday that he will leave Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the Bundesliga season, with those of those work itself guaranteed as second with two more games.
The former midfielder joined the 2022-23 campaign at Leverkusen and took on his first senior management role after coaching the B-team of Real Sociedad for three years.
His first full campaign at the helm was an unprecedented success, because in 2023-24 Leverkusen completed an unbeaten Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal Double and became German champions for the first time.
His team also enjoyed a record-breaking undefeated run under all sides in Europe's top five competitions (in all competitions), with 51 games without defeat (42 victories, nine draws) before he lost 3-0 in Atalanta in the Europa League final last May.
Alonso was widely tipped to replace Ancelotti in the Santiago Bernabeu, where the five-time Champions League-winning coach was expected to leave after Madrid had surrendered their European crown.
Drenthe, who played with Alonso in Madrid between 2009 and 2012, believes that Los Blancos needs a coach with experience of the enormous expectations around the club.
“Look, if you are going to change and if you are going to change the big Ancelotti, who has had so many good years at Madrid, the only coach who currently has history with Madrid is Xabi Alonso,” Drenthe told Statistics.
“He did very well at Leverkusen, and I think that if you look at other coaches who do very well in the world, but who have no history with the club and also have to make the team and everything … it will be difficult.
Lived it. Thought it was great. pic.twitter.com/duujq2ignc
– Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@Bayer04_en) 9 May 2025
“I think Xabi Alonso is a person who is very professional. I had to work with him as a player, and you see with the way he does things at Leverkusen … you can't win the German league if you are not a good coach.
“I think he is the only person who can do the work here in Spain for Madrid.”
Alonso played 236 games for Madrid between his arrival in 2009 from Liverpool and his departure 2014 to Bayern Munich.
At that time he helped them to win Liga in 2011-12, the Copa del Rey twice and the Champions League in 2013-14-with that legendary 'Decima' triumph that stopped a 12-year waiting time to Madrid to regain their European crown for a 10th time.
Alonso could still make more history with Leverkusen, which are undefeated in 33 from games in the Bundesliga (23 victories, 10 draws).
That is the joint-long run in the history of the competition in addition to an identical series of Bayern, who achieved that performance between 2012 and 2014.
Leverkusen visits Mainz for their last match under Alonso on 17 May, while his farewell from home on Sunday will be against Borussia Dortmund.
Madrid, meanwhile, his four points on Drift of Barcelona at the top of LaLiga prior to Sunday's Clasico, knowing that a defeat would see their title, hopes anything but extinguished.
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