MUNICH: Xabi Alonso, who was seen by many as Liverpool’s top target to replace Jurgen Klopp as their manager, said on Friday he is staying at Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen next season.
The 42-year-old Spaniard has Leverkusen on course for a trophy treble, including their first ever German league crown.
“It’s been a season of speculation regarding my future,” Alonso told a press conference.
“Up till now we have been busy and focused on the season and I wanted to reflect during the international break and take a decision.
“Last week I had a meeting when I informed (Leverkusen’s directors) of my decision to continue being coach of Bayer Leverkusen.”
Alonso said he was still developing as a coach and he felt Leverkusen, his first senior team coaching post, is the best place for him to continue growing.
“At the moment this is the right place for me to develop as a coach, I am a young coach,” he said.
“Right now this is the right place. I have to thank the management.
“The club had been supportive and I feel respected by all departments.”
Alonso has a contract until 2026 but had been linked with moves to Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, all clubs where he spent time as a player, having done a stunning job at runaway Bundesliga leaders Leverkusen.
Leverkusen are unbeaten this term with 34 victories and four draws and are 10 points clear of Bayern Munich and on track for their first ever Bundesliga title with eight games remaining this season.
The former Spain midfielder, who was a member of the side that won the Euro in 2008 and 2012 as well as the 2010 World Cup, is aiming to complete a treble.
Aside from topping the table they are in the final four of the German Cup and the quarter-finals of the Europa League and could potentially meet Liverpool in the final.
Alonso’s coaching experience was limited to the Real Sociedad B team when he was appointed Leverkusen coach in October 2022, but he showed he had natural talent as a coach as he saved them from relegation.
With Alonso out of the race to replace Klopp the frontrunners are believed to be Sporting Lisbon head coach Ruben Amorim and Brighton’s Italian manager Roberto De Zerbi.
De Zerbi can further impress his potential employers on Sunday as he takes his side to Liverpool and is yet to come off second best against Klopp in four meetings.
Speaking in Liverpool after Alonso had made his announcement, Klopp said he understood his decision.
“He is doing an incredible job there. Leverkusen has a good team and they will probably keep the team together,” Klopp said.
“That’s a possibility and not all years it is like that. So I understand that he wants to do that.”
Klopp shocked the football world when he announced in January he would be standing down from the Liverpool job after a hugely successful nine-year stay.
In 2020 he delivered their first league title since 1990, a year after landing the 2019 Champions League.
Alonso preferred not to comment directly about the Liverpool vacancy or indeed Bayern Munich, who were hoping to attract him to replace Thomas Tuchel, who is leaving at the end of the season.
Tuchel’s departure is a consequence of Alonso’s success — should Leverkusen hold their nerve and lift the Bundesliga trophy it will bring to an end Bayern’s run of 11 successive league crowns.
“I think it wouldn’t be correct of me to talk about other clubs when they are in this situation,” said Alonso, who remains a devoted Liverpool fan and encouraged his son to be one as well.
“For sure there are clubs I have a strong link, I play there. So I respect them. But it’s not correct for me to talk about them right now.
“It’s more that the conviction I am in the right place at Bayer Leverkusen and I want to keep growing with the club, growing with the players.
“I am at this stage in my young career. I had to feel the decision was in a natural way and that’s why I have taken it.”
Liverpool target Xabi Alonso says staying as Leverkusen coach
https://arab.news/ma2ce
Liverpool target Xabi Alonso says staying as Leverkusen coach
- The 42-year-old Spaniard has Leverkusen on course for a trophy treble, including their first ever German league crown
- “Last week I had a meeting when I informed (Leverkusen’s directors) of my decision to continue being coach of Bayer Leverkusen”
Barca mount late comeback to stun Atletico in thriller
- Torres bagged his second late on to round off a win which could prove decisive come the end of the season
MADRID: Barcelona battled back from two goals down to beat Atletico Madrid 4-2 and land an important blow in the Spanish title race on Sunday.
Lamine Yamal struck in the 92nd minute and Ferran Torres in the 98th to help take the Catalans back top of the table after Real Madrid beat Villarreal on Saturday to briefly claim pole position.
Barcelona have a game in hand on the champions with both sides level on 60 points, while Atletico trail the top two by four after they crumbled at home against Hansi Flick’s side to end a disastrous week following their Champions League elimination.
Having twice been caught out late by Atletico this season, this time it was Barcelona’s turn to provide the sting in the tail, extending their unbeaten streak to 18 matches across all competitions.
Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth put Atletico ahead before Robert Lewandowski and Torres hit back for Barca, who went on to win in stoppage time.
Flick selected Marc Casado in midfield, with Frenkie de Jong not fit enough to be included in the matchday squad.
The German had warned his players to stay focussed after they conceded a 96th minute goal in December to surrender the lead at the top of the table to Atletico in a 2-1 home defeat.
Barcelona also conceded two late goals in the Copa del Rey semifinal first leg to draw 4-4 against Diego Simeone’s side in February.
They played within themselves in the first half, overly cautious and conserving energy, failing to create many openings.
Teenage winger Yamal created one for himself but fired wide with Jan Oblak’s goal gaping, while Lewandowski directed a header at the Slovenian stopper.
At the other end Atletico wanted a penalty when Inigo Martinez pulled back Marcos Llorente in the area but they were not given it.
Barcelona’s best chance of the first half came when Pedri played in Lewandowski, who hit the top of the crossbar with a powerful drive. From the resulting goal kick, Atletico found the opener.
The hosts worked the ball to Griezmann, who threaded a brilliant pass across the area to Giuliano Simeone, with Alvarez finishing from his cut-back.
It provided a moment of joy for the former Manchester City striker who felt deep frustration in midweek when his penalty against Real Madrid was controversially disallowed for a supposed double touch on the ball, as Atletico were eliminated in the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday.
Yamal probed after the break as Barca looked for a way back in and Simeone turned to his bench to freshen up his side, who played 120 draining minutes against Los Blancos.
The coach introduced Sorloth and Conor Gallagher and they combined for Atletico’s second goal.
Atletico put together another fine team move with Griezmann heavily involved, before Gallagher squared to perennial super-sub Sorloth to net his 11th league goal of the season, despite just nine starts.
Barcelona had complaints about a Rodrigo De Paul handball in the build-up dismissed and they turned their anger into an instant response.
Martinez drove forward with the ball and slung it into the box for Lewandowski, who controlled well and powered a low finish past Oblak to spark the comeback.
Substitute Torres netted the equalizer when Raphinha, on an othewise quiet night in the capital for the Brazilian, crossed from the right.
With Atletico shaken, Barcelona took full advantage, with Yamal’s deflected shot from distance sending them ahead in stoppage time.
Torres bagged his second late on to round off a win which could prove decisive come the end of the season.
Newcastle stun Liverpool in League Cup final to end decades-long trophy drought
LONDON: Newcastle ended their decades-long trophy drought in stunning style as Dan Burn and Alexander Isak sealed a 2-1 win against Liverpool in the League Cup final on Sunday.
Eddie Howe’s side made history at Wembley with a superb display that left the runaway Premier League leaders shell-shocked.
Burn put Newcastle ahead late in the first half and Isak’s 27th goal in all competitions doubled their lead after the interval.
Federico Chiesa got one back in the closing seconds, but Newcastle held on for their first major silverware since the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
That success in the predecessor to the Europa League is a relic of a bygone era, but this long-awaited triumph will be forever etched in the memories of the Newcastle fans who turned one half of Wembley into a roiling sea of black and white with their ecstatic celebrations.
It was also Newcastle’s first major domestic prize dating back 70 years to the 1955 FA Cup.
Since the Magpies lifted the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, 30 different English teams had won silverware, while Liverpool had clinched 38 major trophies in that time.
But after losing the 2023 League Cup final against Manchester United, Howe’s team returned to Wembley and set the record straight at last.
Newcastle had endured five relegations to the second tier since their last trophy, with club legends like Alan Shearer, Paul Gascoigne and Malcolm MacDonald failing to win silverware in their time on Tyneside.
Aside from a brief period when Kevin Keegan’s self-styled “entertainers” challenged for the title in the 1990s, Newcastle have endured decades of underachievement and self-inflicted wounds that rendered them a laughing stock for long periods.
All that changed in 2021 when a Saudi-backed consortium completed a takeover from unpopular owner Mike Ashley and quickly hired Howe as their manager.
Thanks to Howe’s astute leadership and the Saudi financial backing, Newcastle have been transformed from relegation candidates to silverware winners.
The defeat was another painful blow for Liverpool just days after their Champions League last 16 exit on penalties against Paris Saint-Germain.
But despite failing to win their first trophy under boss Arne Slot, Liverpool still sit 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League, within touching distance of a record-equalling 20th English title.
Liverpool are 23 points ahead of sixth-placed Newcastle in the league and hadn’t lost to them for 17 games dating back to 2015.
But Howe’s men were in no mood to be cowed by past failures
Newcastle fans unveiled a banner before kick-off urging their team to “write your name in the history books.”
They rose to the challenge in spectacular fashion, snapping into tackles and counter-attacking with purpose, while Liverpool were sluggish and sloppy in possession.
Bruno Guimaraes had a golden opportunity to reward Newcastle’s enterprising start when Burn headed Kieran Trippier’s corner toward the Brazil midfielder, but he nodded at Liverpool keeper Caoimhin Kelleher from close-range.
Newcastle’s desire and drive was clear to see when Joelinton tracked back from midfield to stop Jarell Quansah in his tracks and celebrated with a fist-pumping roar.
Despite nearly being caught out by Burn’s aerial prowess once before, Liverpool failed to heed the warning as the towering center-back put Newcastle ahead in the 45th minute.
Bizarrely left unmarked, with only the diminutive Alex Mac Allister anywhere near him, Burn was allowed to rise unchallenged to meet Tripper’s corner as he thumped a powerful header into far corner from 12 yards.
Burn’s goal — Newcastle’s first in a cup final since 1976 — capped an incredible week for the journeyman center-back, who received his first England call-up on Friday.
With Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah completely anonymous, the lethargic Reds had no answer as Isak put Newcastle into dreamland after 52 minutes.
Jacob Murphy met Tino Livramento’s cross with a header that found Isak, who drilled a superb first-time finish past Kelleher from 10 yards.
Chiesa’s stoppage-time strike set up an anxious finale, but good things comes to those who wait.
And all across Wembley, Newcastle players and fans celebrated with abandon as a party over half a century in the making got into full swing.
Real Madrid will never play with under 72 hours rest again: Ancelotti
- “I think today is the last time we will play a game before 72 hours (of rest),” Ancelotti told reporters
- “We will never play another game (without) 72 hours of rest”
VILA-REAL, Spain: Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said Saturday his team will not play another football game after fewer than 72 hours of rest.
Los Blancos beat Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night in the Champions League on penalties and then earned a 2-1 win at Villarreal on Saturday, with the game kicking off at 1630 GMT.
“I think today is the last time we will play a game before 72 hours (of rest),” Ancelotti told reporters.
“We will never play another game (without) 72 hours of rest.
“We asked La Liga twice to change the time of the game and they did not do anything, this is the last time.”
World football governing body FIFA recommends at least 72 hours between matches in order to protect the health of the players.
French striker Kylian Mbappe struck twice for Madrid against Villarreal to take them top of La Liga ahead of Barcelona’s game at Atletico on Sunday.
“I am very proud of this team,” continued Ancelotti.
“It was a potential banana skin, above all for what has happened, the (few) hours of rest, and the strength of the opponent.”
Ancelotti has regularly complained about the packed football calendar, with Madrid one of the clubs who will also be involved at the expanded Club World Cup this summer in the United States.
“Everyone saw the game against Atletico, 120 minutes, a very intense match, it’s hard to play after two days... but we have to respect the club badge and fight until the end, and we did that today and we were able to win,” Mbappe told Real Madrid TV.
Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said the scheduling of the game was disrespectful to Madrid.
“We don’t want to look for excuses, I’m happy to say we did not lose or draw because of the tiredness, but it’s not normal playing (at this time) today,” said Courtois.
“I know La Liga don’t like to put (the three biggest teams) on the same day, but sometimes it’s what you have to do... it was a lack of respect to the team and our players, because we could have left here with someone injured.
“Tomorrow is Atletico against Barca and that’s not a problem, it could be a ‘Super Sunday’ with Madrid playing first.”
Man City held by Brighton to leave Champions League hopes in balance
- Pep Guardiola’s side led through Erling Haaland’s early penalty at the Etihad Stadium
- City remain in fifth place in the Premier League, one point behind fourth-placed Chelsea
MANCHESTER: Manchester City twice blew the lead in a 2-2 draw against Brighton on Saturday as Abdukodir Khusanov’s own goal dented their bid to qualify for the Champions League.
Pep Guardiola’s side led through Erling Haaland’s early penalty at the Etihad Stadium.
But Pervis Estupinan hauled Brighton level and, although Omar Marmoush restored City’s lead just before the interval, the Seagulls levelled again in the second half thanks to Khusanov’s mistake.
City remain in fifth place in the Premier League, one point behind fourth-placed Chelsea, who visit Arsenal on Sunday, and one point ahead of Newcastle and seventh-placed Brighton.
The top four are guaranteed a Champions League place, while fifth is also likely to be enough depending on the result of the English clubs remaining in European competitions this term.
Reduced to fighting for a Champions League berth after a shockingly bad season, City are still far from certain to qualify for Europe’s elite club competition.
That would have been unthinkable just 12 months ago, when City were marching toward a fourth consecutive English title and a sixth in seven years.
Since losing 7-0 at Nottingham Forest, Brighton had reeled off four consecutive league wins and this was another impressive display from Fabian Hurzeler’s side, who still harbor genuine hopes of reaching the Champions League for the first time.
Guardiola made four changes from the 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest as Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Ederson and Matheus Nunes were replaced by Marmoush, Ilkay Gundogan, Stefan Ortega and Rico Lewis.
City won a penalty in the 11th minute when Haaland found Marmoush in the Brighton area and the Egyptian was brought down by Adam Webster.
Haaland took the spot-kick, firing low into the bottom corner for his 100th Premier League goal involvement (84 goals and 16 assists) in just 94 appearances.
The Norway striker is the first Premier League player to reach 100 goal involvements in fewer than 100 games.
Not for the first time in their turbulent season, sloppy City were unable to hold onto their lead as Brighton drew level in the 21st minute.
Estupinan let rip with a fierce free-kick from 20 yards that caught out the wrong-footed Ortega, who was rooted to the spot as it hit the post and flashed into the net.
City tried to respond but Haaland lashed over from Gundogan’s pass and Savinho’s shot was blocked by Jan Paul van Hecke.
Guardiola’s men kept pressing and were rewarded in the 39th minute.
Gundogan picked off a miscued Brighton pass and unfurled a precise pass to set up Marmoush for a blistering finish.
City were still fortunate to go in ahead at half-time after a mix up between Nico Gonzalez and Ruben Dias left space for Joao Pedro to shoot just wide.
It took City’s leaky defense just three minutes of the second half to surrender the lead for a second time.
Adam Webster crossed into the area and Jack Hinshelwood’s shot appeared to be going wide until it took a deflection off City defender Khusanov.
With City’s rearguard in disarray, Brighton should have gone ahead, but Yankuba Minteh shot wastefully wide from close-range after Diego Gomez picked out the Gambian.
In a frantic finale, Brighton’s Carlos Baleba smashed over with the goal at his mercy.
Bayern held at Union Berlin to leave title door ajar
- Bayern, who also dropped points in a surprise loss at home to Bochum last week, could be just six points ahead if Leverkusen win at Stuttgart on Sunday
- Bayern had most of the ball but struggled to break through a resolute Union defense
BERLIN: Bayern Munich were held to a 1-1 draw at Union Berlin on Saturday, giving defending champions Bayer Leverkusen an outside chance of dragging themselves back into the Bundesliga title race.
Bayern, who also dropped points in a surprise loss at home to Bochum last week, could be just six points ahead if Leverkusen win at Stuttgart on Sunday.
Bayern had most of the ball but struggled to break through a resolute Union defense.
With few chances in the opening period, Bayern’s best chance came after 51 minutes when Harry Kane drilled a free-kick through the wall but into the palms of Frederik Ronnow.
Leroy Sane put the visitors ahead after 75 minutes when he skated through a crowded penalty area to tap in a Josip Stanisic pass.
Union were however the better team after the goal and the hosts levelled through Benedict Hollerbach, who was on the spot to take advantage of an error from rookie goalkeeper Jonas Urbig.
Union rose in intensity in the dying stages but were unable to land the killer blow which would have seen them beat Bayern for the first time in their history, on their 12th attempt.
Despite hovering dangerously close to the relegation spots for much of the season, Union have a strong record at home against the league’s best sides.
Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt, Mainz, Freiburg and now Bayern have all left Berlin without winning.
Unlikely Champions League candidates Mainz and Freiburg drew 2-2 draw. Hosts Mainz, reduced to 10 men when Dominik Kohr saw red after 43 minutes, twice took the lead but Freiburg equalized both times.
The result leaves Mainz third and Freiburg fifth, with neither side having ever played in the Champions League.
An Alassane Plea hat-trick took Borussia Moenchengladbach to a 4-2 win at Werder Bremen, keeping the visitors on track for a return to European football.
Plea’s first-half brace had Gladbach on track but Bremen scored twice in seven minutes through Romano Schmid and Andre Silva, his first for the club, to level things up at half-time.
Plea scored just two minutes into the second half and Germany striker Tim Kleindienst added another to seal the victory.
Augsburg’s impressive 2025 continued with a 1-0 home win over Wolfsburg, with Phillip Tietz scoring the only goal.
Augsburg are now unbeaten in 10 in the league and have conceded just three goals this calendar year, the lowest mark in the top five European leagues.
In Saturday’s late game, RB Leipzig host Dortmund in a must-win game for either side’s hopes of reaching next season’s Champions League.
