{"id":1176,"date":"2025-11-04T18:48:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T10:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/?p=1176"},"modified":"2025-11-04T18:48:50","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T10:48:50","slug":"alonso-says-quality-wirtz-helped-get-him-real-madrid-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/04\/alonso-says-quality-wirtz-helped-get-him-real-madrid-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Alonso says ‘quality’ Wirtz helped get him Real Madrid job"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Xabi Alonso said he landed the job as Real Madrid boss thanks in part to Florian Wirtz and has “no doubts” the German international will soon start delivering for Liverpool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together Alonso and Wirtz ended Bayern Munich’s stranglehold on the Bundesliga at Bayer Leverkusen, winning a German league and Cup double in 2023\/24 without losing a single game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That success made Alonso the prime candidate to take over at the Santiago Bernabeu when Carlo Ancelotti departed earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wirtz rebuffed the attention of Bayern to move to Liverpool in a \u00a3100 million ($131 million) move in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the 22-year-old has struggled to adjust to the physical rigours of the Premier League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wirtz is yet to score for the Reds and has been dropped to the bench for three of Liverpool’s last four league games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alonso and Wirtz will be reunited on opposite sides for the first time since leaving Germany when Madrid travel to Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I have no doubts it could be just a matter of time,” said Alonso, who himself played for Liverpool for five years between 2004 and 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is a big change for him to come here after so many years in Germany, he needs to adapt, but he is a really special player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He has the quality, the personality, he’s competitive\u2026I have no doubts with Flo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He was so special and one of the reasons I am here. I am thankful to him and, hopefully not tomorrow, but we are looking forward to him showing his quality and his class.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trent Alexander-Arnold has also made a slow start following his move to Madrid from Liverpool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The England international has not featured for the 15-time European champions for nearly two months due to a hamstring injury and Alonso’s preference for Federico Valverde at right-back since Alexander-Arnold’s return to fitness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He has great qualities,” added Alonso. “It is a new stage for him on a sporting level but also physically and mentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We need to help him to perform at his best level because he is an exceptional player.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madrid are among five sides with a perfect record from their opening three Champions League games, while Liverpool sit 10th in the 36-team table, three points behind the leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Xabi Alonso said he landed the job as Real Madrid boss thanks in part to Florian Wirtz and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1178,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176\/revisions\/1178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}