DUESSELDORF, Germany: Xabi Alonso and Bayer Leverkusen have experienced almost everything soccer has to offer over the last year. Having to rebound from a loss, not so much.
Leverkusen go into Saturday’s game against Hoffenheim having lost their last league match 3-2 to Leipzig. It was the first Bundesliga game Leverkusen had lost since May 2023.
Alonso said Friday he was trying to restore concentration and focus that seemed to be lacking in a game where Leverkusen had 27 shots, but Leipzig’s sudden, incisive counterattacks made the difference.
“We need to have better control when we don’t have the ball,” the coach said Friday. “We have to be stable without the ball, we have to be aggressive, not too passive. I think we conceded chances too simply and that is a football topic but also a mental topic, too.”
Leverkusen’s unbeaten run last season was no ordinary streak. So often did Alonso’s team score late goals to save a point or win a crucial game that it began to feel inevitable, even like part of their identity — like a Hollywood director whose movies all feature improbable final-act twists.
Leverkusen’s unbeaten run in all competitions ended at 51 games when the team lost to Atalanta in May in the Europa League final. Their unbeaten record in German competition hit 15 months before the loss to Leipzig, including the only unbeaten Bundesliga season by any team in history.
The recent international break means Alonso and his team have had two weeks to mull over the Leipzig loss ahead of the away game at Hoffenheim — and a Champions League visit to Feyenoord on Thursday — but there’s been little face-to-face contact between Alonso and his many players on international duty.
“It’s express preparation, express conversation,” he said. “It’s not so many things but there are important things to improve. We had enough time to analyze and to show that and to discuss how we can do that better, so hopefully we have a better, more complete performance.”
Alonso had words of support for defender and vice-captain Jonathan Tah, who was substituted at halftime in Germany’s 2-2 draw with the Netherlands on Tuesday after struggling at times to deal with the Dutch forward.
Tah is a “top player” who returned to the club with a positive attitude after the game, Alonso said.
Like Leipzig, Hoffenheim are another team that Leverkusen beat implausibly late last season.
Back on March 30, Hoffenheim were on course for a 1-0 win that would have shocked European soccer. But then Robert Andrich scored in the 88th minute and Patrik Schick in the 91st, and Leverkusen won 2-1. It was just another gravity-defying feat in a season that was full of them.
Xabi Alonso seeks to get Bayer Leverkusen focused again after a rare Bundesliga loss
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Xabi Alonso seeks to get Bayer Leverkusen focused again after a rare Bundesliga loss
- Alonso said Friday he was trying to restore concentration and focus that seemed to be lacking in a game where Leverkusen had 27 shots
- “We need to have better control when we don’t have the ball,” the coach said
Real Madrid handed shock home loss as Celta Vigo spring surprise
- Celta jumped from 14th to 10th while the defeat ended Real’s 100 percent home league record this season after six successive wins
MADRID: Real Madrid suffered a shock 2-0 loss and finished with nine men against Celta Vigo in LaLiga on Sunday after Williot Swedberg scored an audacious goal with his heel and a second in stoppage time to leave the hosts four points off leaders Barcelona.
Swedish substitute Swedberg cleverly diverted a cross from Bryan Zaragoza past Thibaut Courtois in the 53rd minute to put Celta ahead and had an easy finish three minutes into added time, going around the goalkeeper to wrap up the points.
Real’s cause was not helped by the 64th minute dismissal of Fran Garcia, who picked up two yellow cards in 60 seconds, but they laid siege to the visitors’ goal for the last 20 minutes as Celta went into a defensive shell to hold onto their advantage.
Real defender Alvaro Carreras was also dismissed for two cautions, his second coming in stoppage time at the end of the game as the home side’s frustrations boiled over.
It was a second clean sheet in 15 league games this season for Celta, whose keeper Ionut Radu made a first-half save from Jude Bellingham’s header and stopped a second-half free-kick whipped in by Kylian Mbappe.
Real stay on 36 points from 16 games as Celta celebrated a first win at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in 19 years, leaving the Galician club with 19 points.
“With the team they have and their quality, it’s difficult to match them, but we read the game well,” said Celta striker Borja Iglesias. “We had possession, we played in their half, we played a fantastic match.”
Celta jumped from 14th to 10th while the defeat ended Real’s 100 percent home league record this season after six successive wins.
Xabi Alonso’s stuttering Real team have now won only one of their last five league games as they await the midweek arrival of Manchester City in the Champions League.
Earlier on Sunday, Espanyol moved up to fifth as Roberto Fernandez’s first half penalty handed them a 1-0 home win over Rayo Vallecano as both sides finished with 10 men.
Elche’s Rafa Mir scored twice as they ran out 3-0 home winners over struggling Girona, while hosts Valencia and Sevilla remained in the bottom half of the table after a 1-1 draw.
