Bayer Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro has criticised Real Madrid’s treatment of Xabi Alonso and said the under-pressure coach is always welcome back at the BayArena.
Alonso is believed to be on borrowed time at the Santiago Bernabeu with last night’s win at Alaves just their third in the last nine games in all competitions.
Madrid have slipped four points behind arch-rivals Barcelona while Alonso has had to deal with a high-profile falling-out with star winger Vinicius Jr.
‘We’d have handled it differently in Leverkusen’
Carro believes Alonso, who led Leverkusen to their first Bundesliga title in the 2023/24 season, has been left to face the criticism alone and says his club would have handled the situation differently.
He told Sky Germany: “We don’t advise anyone. At the time we would have liked him to have stayed here, but we know that he is a coach with enormous talent who, yes, has a different context in Madrid.
“If the president [Florentino Perez] says that a coach is a necessary evil, if the coach is left alone and he is always the one who receives the criticism, then the situation is very different from the one he lived in Leverkusen, where we all row in the same direction and do not leave the coach alone politically.”
He added: “During the international break, I spent a weekend in Madrid and the [Madrid] coaching staff and families were at our house twice. We have a very good relationship; after all, during those three years we were like a family.
“We feel a lot of appreciation for each other and we maintain very close contact.”
Alonso and Wirtz are always welcome – Carro
Alonso is not the only former Leverkusen man to be struggling in new surroundings with forward Florian Wirtz failing to make an impact at Liverpool following his summer move to Anfield.
And while it’s highly unlikely, Carro said he would be happy to see both back in Leverkusen.
“The door is open,” he said. “If the two want to come back, they can do it at any time.”
