Vincent Kompany vs. Xabi Alonso: Battle of the coaches as Bayern Munich host Bayer Leverkusen
New Bayern Munich head coach Vincent Kompany will face his biggest challenge yet as his side host reigning Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen at the Allianz Arena on Saturday. In the opposite dugout will be Xabi Alonso, the former Bayern player who has already made the transition from world-class player to title-winning manager, and someone Kompany is trying to emulate.
It has been a fantastic start to life at the Bayern helm for Kompany. In fact, the Belgian boasts the best start ever by a new coach in Munich, having won all six of his competitive matches thus far, with the team scoring a hugely impressive 29 goals along the way. While they needed to grind out victory over Wolfsburg on the opening matchday of the Bundesliga campaign, they have since recorded 6-1 and 5-0 victories over Holstein Kiel and Werder Bremen respectively. In the UEFA Champions League, they kicked off their campaign with a record 9-2 hammering of Dinamo Zagreb.
After a disappointing campaign that saw Bayern lose the Bundesliga crown they had worn for the previous 11 years, Kompany has restored confidence immediately. They have already moved to the top of the table and are three points clear at the summit. Even at this early stage, the signs are ominous.
Alonso, though, will have plenty to say about that. The Spaniard’s rise to the top of German football coaching was as unexpected as it was stunning. After replacing Gerardo Seoane towards the beginning of the 2022/23 term, he steered struggling Leverkusen from second-from-bottom to a top-six finish, earning them European football when relegation had looked a more likely prospect early in the season.
It was a strong turnaround, but what unfolded across the course of the 2023/24 season was a bolt out of the blue. Not only did Leverkusen win their first-ever Meisterschale, finishing 18 points above their nearest challengers VfB Stuttgart and amassing 19 more than eventual third-place finishers Bayern, but they became the first team to claim the Bundesliga title without losing a match. They almost completed an unbeaten treble, with the 3-0 UEFA Europa League final loss to Atalanta the only blemish as they clinched a domestic double.
After years of 'Neverkusen' jibes – a reference to a series of agonising near-misses at the start of the century – Alonso took Leverkusen to the top of the pile, deploying a style reminiscent of the one he played under Pep Guardiola at Bayern. Much like Alonso when he won three Bundesliga titles under the now-Manchester City boss, Granit Xhaka was tasked with controlling the midfield and dictating the play, something the Switzerland international midfielder achieved with his unique brand of power and panache.
Watch: Granit Xhaka & Xabi Alonso - the special connection
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Of course, Kompany too played under Guardiola - a fruitful three-year spell at City that garnered two English Premier League titles, two FA Cups and a League Cup. The Spaniard’s influence on the former centre-back is clear and, while he was unable to get the tune he wanted out of Burnley in the top division in his last job, the higher quality of player available to him in Bavaria has meant a harmonious start to his tenure.
Bayern always saw the majority of possession under Kompany’s predecessor, Thomas Tuchel, but the difference this term is their intensity. No team covered less distance than Bayern during the 2023/24 Bundesliga campaign. Yet after four matchdays of this term, they sit second in that particular ranking. There has also been a significant increase in intensive runs, and it is that extra work that has caused opposition so many problems.
When Leverkusen reigned supreme last term, only three sides covered more ground on the pitch. For all of the silky skills and mesmerising technique, nothing can be achieved without hard work and getting the basics right – this appears to be something both Kompany and Alonso have quickly understood in their short coaching careers.
During their playing days, these two met on seven occasions at both club and international level. Alonso clearly had the upper hand, ending up on the winning side in five of those encounters and losing just one. That defeat, though, came in the final meeting between the two, when City recorded a narrow 3-2 victory over Bayern in the 2014/15 Champions League group stage with the Bundesliga side already qualified for the knockouts.
Despite his team's unprecedented campaign last term, he still expects Bayern to be the side to beat this time around. “From my point of view, we are not the favourites,” he said prior to the beginning of the Bundesliga season.
“For me, Bayern are the favourites again. The squad, their history, it's clear to see. We want to play well, we want to start the season well, that's our goal. We'll see what we can achieve but our goal is to stay in the top four. That's realistic, we have a good squad.”
Kompany, meanwhile, has demanded his team use the club’s pedigree as inspiration for how they set up and approach matches against the top clubs. “When I played against Bayern's top teams in the past, I didn't get the impression that they were put under pressure by the opposition,” said the ex-Belgium international defender. “They were always the ones who put pressure on and were good on the ball. We'll see if we can do that too.”
Even at this early stage of the campaign, the feeling is the outcome of this match could have a major impact on where the title ends up in May. And, while there will be plenty of talent on the pitch across the two XIs, the most important duel may be on the sidelines. It remains to be seen who will hold their nerve in the heat of the battle.
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