Xabi Alonso could face Liverpool problem as FSG change sights on new manager

'Hard to make a case for an alternative'

Paul Gorst: After an emphatic result that echoed around the rest of European football on Saturday night, Xabi Alonso is the outstanding candidate to replace Jurgen Klopp later this year at Liverpool.

A 3-0 win against the Bundesliga behemoth that is Bayern Munich might have been eye-catching enough in its own right, but the fact that it took unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen five points clear at the top of table merely garnished the credentials of the former Reds midfielder and reinforced the idea that he is one of the emerging coaches on the continent.

It's difficult to make a case for anyone else right now and even if the club won't make their Klopp replacement decision based on emotion, fan-held views or bias, Alonso's time at the BayArena is so impressive that he would be seriously assessed even he hadn't won the 2005 Champions League with the Reds either way. Throw in the connection he has at Anfield and there are few credible options elsewhere, you have to say.

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There will be other managers under consideration, of course, it's just difficult to think who they might be right now as the Liverpool fanbase continues to collectively swoon over their former midfield maestro.

The final months of the current era should not be wished away so easily and it is shaping up to be quite the ride before the emotional send-off for a modern-day great but Alonso's ongoing progress in Germany is hinting at life after Klopp. That is probably the biggest compliment you can pay him right now.

'There is a potential fly in the