You either have elegance or you don’t. Among those who have is Xabi Alonso, who is now coach at Bayer Leverkusen and on Saturday night did not want to dwell on the question of whether referee Sven Jablonski was the key figure in his side’s 2-0 defeat in Leipzig .
“Now is not the time to cry,” said Alonso after being asked about the scene that paved the way for Leipzig’s leadership, which he had deliberately omitted in his initial analysis. He had watched the scene three times, and the “great doubts” about whether it was really right did not go away. Alonso’s reaction was a splendid contrast to Leverkusen’s club boss Fernando Carro, who fell into the catacombs after the final whistle and, by his own admission, confronted the referee because it wasn’t a foul. “Fuck my ass,” Carro cursed.
Objectively, there was every reason to quarrel with the referee. A precise free-kick cross from Dominik Szoboszlai (32′) preceded Leipzig’s header by Christopher Nkunku, and this only happened because Jablonski made a wrong decision that upset the previously balanced and exhaustingly boring game. Bayer defender Piero Hincapié clearly played the ball when Szoboszlai went down; the fact that Jablonski also pulled out the yellow card put a rather absurd crown on the whole thing. “With all love…” said midfielder Robert Andrich. “Of course that was an important standard,” Xabi Alonso also explained – “but it wasn’t just the referee,” he added decisively.
Alonso, 40, has been in charge of Leverkusen for six games. The furious 4:0 against Schalke 04 was followed by five games without a win. The overall goal difference is 9:14. But the question of how the bankruptcy in Leipzig is to be classified cannot be answered that easily. The fact that Leverkusen looked mentally exhausted was probably due to the fact that the stress from the wild Champions League game at Atlético Madrid on Wednesday (2-2) had not yet been fully processed.
Some things are reminiscent of the time under Alonso’s predecessor Seoane
It sounds stupid to say something like that after a 0: 2, Alonso pressed, but his team was basically in the game until Timo Werner made it 2: 0 for RB (83rd). There is a lot that points in the right direction, emphasized Alonso: “I have the feeling that everyone in the dressing room sticks together and is ready to fight.” He shared this impression with Andrich and also with sports director Simon Rolfes. But there are also some things that refer to the time under Alonso’s predecessor Seoane.
The fact that Leipzig’s third goalkeeper Örjan Nyland didn’t need to stretch further on his debut for RB was also due to the fact that Leverkusen were “not aggressive enough” in the last third of the field, as Alonso said. This was a very polite way of describing the non-existence of dangerous attacking scenes, especially in the first half. A change only came when the bayer coach made three substitutions, bringing on Exequiel Palacios, Mitchel Bakker and Patrik Schick for Nadiem Amiri, Daley Sinkgraven and Adam Hlozek.
“We have to address that. No matter what kind of crisis you are in, you have to create opportunities up front. It starts at the back, in the opening of the game, so that we can find better solutions there. At the beginning, the willingness and the team spirit have to be right, and I currently see positive things there,” said Andrich. You play under Alonso “much more controlled, more as a unit, better footballing, more intense”. Just not successful.
After all: Andrich’s statements give an idea that they at least know where they stand in Leverkusen. On Saturday it was 16th in the table. “We know that the constellation is brutally dangerous. We’re in a relegation battle,” explained Andrich, concluding: “We have to gain self-confidence with dirty points and dirty victories.” The first opportunity to do so comes on Tuesday, in the final group game of the Champions League against Club Brugge, who have already qualified for the round of 16. Leverkusen have already been eliminated, but it would be important to reach the Europa League “for the prestige, the motivation, the self-confidence”. But: Leverkusen, bottom of Group B, don’t have that in their own hands.