Champions League
Serious setback for Alonso – Bayer is threatened with the end
Porto players celebrate after Mehdi Taremi (3rd from left) scored to make it 0-2. photo
© Marius Becker/dpa
Xabi Alonso’s first Champions League game as a coach went horribly wrong. In Bayer Leverkusen’s 0-3 draw with Porto, the Spaniard’s problems caught up with his predecessor.
Lost in thought, Xabi Alonso stood on the sidelines with his hands in his pockets at the final whistle. After a bitter premier class debut as coach of Bayer Leverkusen, the Baske should soon leave the Champions League stage again. Due to the 0: 3 (0: 1) against FC Porto on Wednesday, his new club in the European premier class is on the verge of extinction.
In just two weeks at Atlético Madrid, the desired entry into the round of 16 for the Rhinelanders could have been done prematurely. Goals from Galeno (6th minute) and Mehdi Taremi (53rd/54th, penalty kicks each) in an unfortunate game for Leverkusen caused the first defeat in Bayer’s still short Alonso era.
“It just hurts extremely. It’s clear that we made mistakes, but it wasn’t a game that we had to lose 0: 3,” said defender Jonathan Tah at DAZN. “We have two games left. We go into every game wanting to win it.”
With only three points from four games, the only thing that will help Leverkusen, who have had a disastrous start to the season in Madrid and against FC Brugge, who have already qualified for the knockout stage, is victory and help from the marksmen. Leverkusen is currently last in Group B behind Bruges (10), Porto (6) and Atlético (4).
As with the 0: 2 in Porto last week, which cost Alonso’s predecessor Gerardo Seoane the job, a lot went wrong for the Rhinelanders this time too. Again Bayer missed – this time by Kerem Demirbay (16th) – a penalty kick. In addition, the Portuguese champions benefited more from the interventions of the video referee. Amine Adli’s alleged equalizer to make it 1-1 (35 ‘) was withdrawn, and before Taremi’s first penalty goal, the Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs had initially decided on a free kick.
Alonso could not build on his debut
Alonso, who won the Champions League twice as a player, was actually looking forward to his first game as a coach in Europe’s premier class. But what the 40-year-old Basque saw was strikingly reminiscent of the final phase of the Seoane era.
There was hardly anything to be seen of Bayer’s energy in Alonso’s debut on Saturday against Schalke 04 (4-0) against an opponent who was several classes better. Instead, in the defense slightly remodeled by Alonso, without the yellow card suspended midfield stabilizer Robert Andrich, Leverkusen made a few blunders in defense, acted without luck and once again missed leading players at crucial moments.
National coach Hansi Flick also came to Alonso’s Champions League debut as a coach. Joking alongside one of his predecessors – Rudi Völler – the evening was hardly worth it for him either. The only current Bayer international, Jonathan Tah, was involved in the early deficit in a negative sense when he acted with Odilon Kossounou as a timid companion of goalscorer Galeno.
Alonso gave Kossounou the advantage over Edmond Taspoba, who had started against Schalke. Kossounou was initially duped by a long ball from Porto keeper Diogo Costa and was then barely able to follow the Brazilian Galeno.
The game remained a torture for Bayer and Alonso. First, Costa saved Demirbay’s penalty, then Adli’s supposed equalizer was withdrawn because the Frenchman shot the ball at Patrik Schick’s arm. After the change, Bayer remained far too timid and undecided in attack. Unlike the 30-time Portuguese champions, who appeared much more ripped off and decided the game with two penalties.