Xabi Alonso has said he is “very calm” despite being linked to taking charge at Real Madrid, with speculation over the future of Carlo Ancelotti.
Alonso, who spent five years as a Real Madrid player and also began his coaching career at the club’s academy, is in the Spanish capital to lead Bayer Leverkusen in Tuesday’s Champions League game with Atlético Madrid.
The Spanish radio station Onda Cero reported on Monday that Ancelotti, who has a contract at the Bernabéu until 2026, had decided to leave this summer.
Sources close to Ancelotti have denied that the Italian is considering an early departure, although ESPN has reported that Alonso is the favourite to take over when the time comes.
“I’m very calm, I’m focused on what I have to do,” Alonso told Movistar on Monday, ahead of Leverkusen’s game at the Metropolitano Stadium.
“I have enough things to worry about. Right now that’s what’s in my head. This is the time now to work with Leverkusen, with the team, with all the challenges we have, and I’m very happy.”
Former midfielder Alonso joined Madrid from Liverpool in 2009 and won the Champions League, the LaLiga title and two Copas del Rey before departing for Bayern Munich in 2014.
After retiring as a player, he spent a season coaching Madrid’s under-14s before taking charge of Real Sociedad’s reserve team and then Bayer Leverkusen, winning an unbeaten Bundesliga title in 2023-24.
ESPN has reported that Madrid have been tracking Alonso’s progress, and view him as the leading candidate to succeed Ancelotti.
Ancelotti has won two Champions Leagues and two league titles since returning to Madrid in 2021.
The team are top of LaLiga and have won two trophies this season, but have also faced criticism from fans and the media, and were beaten 5-2 by Barcelona in the Spanish Supercopa final earlier this month.
Alonso’s Leverkusen are second in the Bundesliga, four points behind Bayern Munich, and fourth in the Champions League table ahead of Tuesday’s game at Atlético.
“Thinking in the long term in football just means worrying about things,” Alonso told Movistar on Monday, when asked if he’d like to coach Madrid one day.
“I have to focus on the short term, which is Atleti, then we go to Leipzig [in the Bundesliga], I have enough.”
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