LEVERKUSEN (GERMANY), 11 Oct. (dpa/EP) –
The coach of Bayer Leverkusen, the Spaniard Xabi Alonso, acknowledged this Tuesday that he is looking forward to his first Champions League match as coach of the German team, against Porto, in a “very special” way, and explained that “there is nothing like atmosphere of ‘Champions'”.
“Of course it’s very, very special. The light, the atmosphere, the sounds of the stadium… This is simply the best competition in football,” said the Bayer Leverkusen coach ahead of the match with the Portuguese team. “There is nothing like the atmosphere of ‘Champions’. The team feels confident, I feel good energy and I think we are going to get a good result,” he added.
As a player, the 40-year-old former midfielder won the ‘Champions’ with Real Madrid in 2005 and 2014. “It’s one thing as a player, but being a coach is different,” he said.
Alonso took charge of the German club last week after the dismissal of his predecessor, Gerardo Seoane, and the Germans’ defeat by Porto themselves 0-2 on matchday three of Group B of the Champions League.
In his Bundesliga debut on Saturday, he led the club to a 4-0 win over Schalke. Now they are looking to win against the Portuguese, who have the same number of points, to maintain their chances of reaching the round of 16.
Alonso will have to replace key players like Robert Andrich and Jeremie Frimpong, who are suspended. At the moment, he has not announced how he will do it. “Of course we have an idea. The players know what it is,” he simply said.