Only Guardiola better! Xabi Alonso on the verge of making history

Tom Weber

• Updated: 12 Apr 2024 18:57 BST
• 4 min read

Xabi Alonso can win the Bundesliga from his couch on Saturday. If results go his way, he will fall just marginally short of matching a record set by Pep Guardiola.

The Basque coach is already a history-maker. His Bayer Leverkusen side are on the verge of claiming their first-ever Meisterschale, their first Bundesliga title. Additionally, Alonso's men can still win a treble. They are through to the DFB-Pokal final where they will face relegation-battling second-tier side Kaiserslautern and they go into their Europa League quarter-final second leg against West Ham with a 2-0 advantage.

It has been a historic season that has only rarely been seen in the Bundesliga, particularly in recent years as far as sides not named Bayern Munich are concerned. Bayer 04 have set a new non-Bayern gold standard and they are yet to taste defeat this season.

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Leverkusen have the chance of wrapping up the Bundesliga title by beating Werder Bremen at home on Sunday. Alternatively, they can be crowned champions without even playing on Saturday.

Alonso close to Guardiola record

For the latter scenario to transpire, Bayern Munich will have to lose to relegation-threatened Koln and surprise packages Stuttgart will need to be defeated by hit-and-miss Eintracht Frankfurt. Admittedly, the stars will need to align for this to happen.

However, the fact that it can happen is a testament to Alonso and his side because if it indeed were to materialise, it would mean that Leverkusen will be the joint-second-fastest side to win a Bundesliga title, doing so with six games to spare after 28 fixtures.

Only Pep Guardiola's Bayern did it quicker, needing just 27 matchdays to wrap up the title exactly a decade earlier, in 2013/14 in what was the Spaniard's first season in charge. A few months later, Alonso arrived in Munich to take control of the Bavarians' midfield.

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But even if Bayer 04 will have to get the job done themselves against Bremen on Sunday, it will still be a historic achievement and would see them sit joint-third with the 2016/17 iteration of Bayern.

Alonso and sporting director Simon Rolfes have turned Bayer Leverkusen into one of the best teams the Bundesliga has ever seen. Regardless of whether they will win the title after 28 or 29 games, it will be a historic achievement.

Not for nothing is Alonso one of the most sought-after coaching commodities in the game right now. Germany legend Lothar Matthaus recently compared Bayer to Guardiola's Barcelona and there are certainly shades of the Man City boss in how Alonso has gone about his business this season.