How Xabi Alonso stopped the goal machine Harry Kane against Bayern Munich, and is making heads turn steering the wheel at Bayer Leverkusen

After the final whistle blew, capping a symbolic night when Bayer Leverkusen thrashed Bayern Munich to stretch their lead to five on the Bundesliga chart, manager Xabi Alonso dragged his support staff to the middle of the pitch. The Spaniard and his entourage joined the tired but jubilant players in the middle and they walked towards each stand to thank the players. The moment was so eloquent that some of the shocked Bayern fans applauded Alonso’s gesture. Alonso, once Bayern’s own, is not only winning games but also winning the hearts of football fans.

The grace and calm always existed. Few midfielders in modern football could seamlessly straddle the varied roles of a midfield, he could snatch the ball from the opponent’s feet, with not so much of a swish as a touch; he could tigerishly hold onto the ball, without breaking a sweat or straining a muscle; he could tackle, pass, distribute (his biggest gift) and score (some long-range worldies he has netted), he could be the most visible and invisible player on the field. His manager at Bayern Munich, Pep Guardiola, once positively likened him to a chameleon, for his adaptability. His physicality stood out, sometimes it obscured his elegance too.

No wonder then that he frictionlesly fitted into the frameworks of different, often antithetical managers and teams. From a midfield don (it was his nickname too) in Real Sociedad, his home-club, he established an efficient alliance with Steven Gerrard at Rafa Benitez’s hardworking group that scripted the Miracle of Istanbul. He played tiki-taka with Spain to conquer the world; he would be the axis of Jose Mourinho’s quicksilver counter attackers, before he slotted into the heart of Guardiola’s shape-changing Bayern Munich. He