Knows how long a season can drag on: Granit Xhaka (Leverkusen) attempting a shot
Photo: imago/Mika Volkmann
When footballers think in one language but at the same time want to express their thoughts in another language, interesting messages often emerge. The legendary “bottle empty” and “I’m done” phrases by the Italian Giovanni Trapattoni are unforgettable. At FC Bayern, Pep Guardiola liked to think about “switching” to describe the style of the Bundesliga, and so on and so forth.
In the current season, a particularly experienced language mixer, Xabi Alonso, is now sitting in the coaching bench at Leverkusen; A lot of communication in the dressing room is in Spanish and English, but Alonso also likes to speak publicly in German. It is not uncommon for him to sprinkle foreign terms into his sentences, such as after the 0-0 draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday evening. “We did enough to win three points,” he said, but “the last shot on goal wasn’t ‘clinical’ enough.”
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»Clinical« is a term that is deeply rooted in the international football language, a word for which there is no exact translation into German. “Sober”, “sterile” or “clear” are suitable equivalents, but “clinical” also suggests that this is about some detail that has to do with the health of the team’s organism. Alonso had actually said everything about this Bundesliga game in which Bayer Leverkusen had once again played some exciting football, but for the first time this season they had not scored their own goal. According to the Sky broadcaster, an incredible record had been set: Bayer had 69 ball actions in the opponent’s penalty area; such a high number has never been recorded in a Bundesliga game since the data was recorded. But it is currently lacking in efficiency.
In the first two games of the year, in which the league leaders scored winning goals in stoppage time, the offensive players found it difficult to convert their dominance into goals. Two of Leverkusen’s four goals in 2024 were scored by central defenders from corners, the other two were scored by defensive strategist Ezequiel Palacios and winger Nathan Tella. Patrik Schick, Florian Wirtz and Jonas Hofmann have had no luck in scoring since the winter break. “The last punch was missing today,” said Hofmann, “the last determination, the last greed to score the goal.”
And yet the Leverkusen team is currently so calm that they won’t let such a setback upset them. Neither on the lawn nor next to it. “We never became headless, it just wasn’t meant to be,” said Nadiem Amiri. Even in the hectic final minutes, the team played clearly and structuredly, but above all there was no panic in Leverkusen that had surfaced in comparable moments at Borussia Dortmund in recent years. »That’s part of the game. Keep going,” said midfielder Granit Xhaka, who remarked: “Anyone who thinks we’ll win 17 games in the second half of the season is wrong in my opinion. A season like this is a marathon.”
Alonso also once again used international football vocabulary when he was asked whether he was becoming anxious as FC Bayern approached: “There are still 15 games left. If I’m nervous now, I’ll be exhausted in May. That’s not my idea. So I’m ‘tranquil.'” Tranquil means: quiet. Quiet. Calmly.
Even the new disruptive force from England triggered by Jürgen Klopp’s announced resignation doesn’t seem to be throwing anyone off track in Leverkusen. Alonso is now one of the main candidates for the successor in Liverpool and casually explained: “There is always a time, but I am very happy and very focused here.” Fernando Carro sees it similarly, “Rumors are part of it,” said the managing director and even The Leverkusen team presented a suitable answer to the striker problem with the final whistle. The Bundesliga leaders have loaned 31-year-old former Spanish international Borjas Iglesias from Betis Sevilla until the end of the season. A robust center striker whose goalscoring skills Alonso will perhaps soon use the word “clinical” to describe.
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