Xabi Alonso, the man and the coach, and how he's become the favourite to be Liverpool's next manager

For Liverpool fans of a certain vintage, the name Bayer Leverkusen will always induce a wince and a longing for what might have been.

It's nearly 22 years now since Gerard Houllier's UEFA Cup holders nudged themselves into the last eight of the European Cup before a 4-2 defeat to the German side saw them eliminated 5-3 on aggregate.

Michael Ballack's power and class, a misguided Houllier assertion that his team were "10 games from greatness", and a harrowing quarter-final exit from the Champions League are all part of the Leverkusen iconography in the mind's eye of the Anfield faithful.

In the modern era, that is changing. Now, Reds fans from all over the world are tuning in to see how Xabi Alonso is faring in charge of a team who he has guided from second bottom to top spot in the Bundesliga in less than 18 months. The fact his charges are also in possession of a five-point advantage over perennial winners Bayern Munich makes it even more impressive.

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And with Jurgen Klopp having announced his bombshell decision to step away from Anfield after nine largely decorated years at the helm, interest in Alonso's fortunes from a Liverpool perspective has ramped up ten-fold in recent weeks.

So the 2005 Champions League winner picked the perfect night to showcase his coaching talents to the wider forum of European football last week when his Leverkusen side dismantled the Bundesliga behemoth that is Bayern 3-0 to take firm control in the title race.

It wasn't so much an evening where Alonso announced himself to the wider world as a manager but the night where he pulled up a megaphone and did so in a