Former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso dodged questions about taking over at Anfield and insisted he does not return to the city as a tourist.
Alonso was hot favourite for the Liverpool job when Jurgen Klopp announced in January he was leaving, but quickly ruled himself out of the running before guiding Bayer Leverkusen to their first Bundesliga title.
Asked whether it was ever a serious consideration, the Spaniard, who won the 2005 Champions League during a five-year spell at Anfield, said: “At that time I was focused, I had a big thing with the players and we were really focused on that.”
Liverpool 🆚 Leverkusen
Xabi Alonso returns to Anfield 🤩#UCL pic.twitter.com/34RoKRHvn0
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 4, 2024
He has already been linked with a return to another of his former clubs Real Madrid to succeed Carlo Ancelotti, but he refused to speculate on whether coming to Anfield would be a consideration.
“Let’s talk about the game tomorrow, it’s more interesting than my future. Let’s talk about the great players on both sides, that is what is in my head,” he added.
“For us it is a big challenge to come here. Liverpool at the moment is one of the best if not the best in Europe, they are showing that in a very strong Premier League and the Champions League.
“It’s a good squad, good coach. At Anfield, it’s a big challenge. We’re looking forward to it, let’s see what happens.”
Alonso remains a crowd favourite and there is every chance the Kop will sing his name at some point on Tuesday night.
“We will see, I will tell you after the game how I feel. There will be a moment for everything, but the main thing is not me,” he said.
“It’s the players, how we deal with the emotions you have in this stadium, they are in a good moment.”
On his return to Liverpool, he added: “Maybe tomorrow I will take a little walk or a run, but there is no time for tourism.
“I know the city very well, I loved it, but tomorrow I will focus on the game and only the game.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here