Alonso has soaring Leverkusen dreaming of title

With 16 wins and a draw in 17 matches in all competitions, Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen could scarcely have had a better start to the season.

A serial winner in a club career which included stints at Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, Alonso was a key member of the Spain team which broke through for a first World Cup victory in 2010, bookended by two European Championships.

Alonso retired in 2017 and moved into coaching, masterminding Real Sociedad B's promotion to the second division for the first time since the early 1960s.

He came to Leverkusen in October 2022, with the club wallowing in the relegation zone.

Despite some early wobbles, winning only one of his first seven games, Alonso took them to sixth place by the season's end and a Europa League semifinal.

Leverkusen's brilliant start to 2023-24 has fans dreaming of a first-ever Bundesliga title.

But even away from Germany's football-mad industrial Rhine-Ruhr region, plenty believe one of the game's premier players is becoming the next elite manager.

'BIG POTENTIAL'

In the Bundesliga, Leverkusen have picked up 31 of 33 points, equalling the record set in 2015-16 by Pep Guardiola's Bayern — where Alonso featured in midfield.

Alonso told AFP and other media there is no secret behind his approach.

"I talk, work, show, improve, do collective training, individual training, I don't know the name of the techniques: it's face-to-face conversation."

The coach said he knew his side had "big potential" when taking over.

"With a little bit of good work or change of mood and confidence, we could do better".

While Leverkusen's pass-heavy style recalls that of Guardiola, Alonso rejected simple comparisons.

"Not tiki-taka" Alonso said, explaining "many times tiki-taka is a