Xabi Alonso has entered a select club of chosen ones. A group reserved for a few names that will go down in football history. Twelve years have had to pass to find another coach who has achieved the perfect season (without defeats). Not since Juventus in the 2011-2012 campaign with Antonio Conte at the helm has an undefeated league season ended, without losing a game. A milestone that Xabi Alonso has achieved with Bayer Leverkusen in his almost debut season in Germany.
The Spanish coach finishes undefeated in the Bundesliga. He is the eighth coach to have achieved this at the same level as iconic football names such as Pentland, Capello, Wenger and Conte. Of the amalgamation of great coaches that Spain has had and has, none had achieved it until the Tolosarra has inscribed his name in history.
The first was achieved in the catacombs of football in the 19th century. He was the English commander with Preston North End in the 1888-89 season. The next to repeat this feat was the iconic gentleman in the bowler hat, Fred Pentland, who led Athletic Bilbao to glory in 1929-30. Real Madrid could not be missing from this group although they have only achieved it once in 1931-1932 with the Hungarian Lippo Hertzka on the bench.
Many years passed, when color TV had arrived to see another undefeated team. It was the Perugia of 1978-79 that under the direction of the Italian Alberto Bigon achieved the unthinkable. The last names are great coaches in world football. The legendary Fabio Capello who achieved it in Serie A with the historic Milan in the 1991-1992 season. One of the most remembered leagues is the one that Arsenal achieved (to date their last league title) with the Frenchman Arsène Wenger in 2003-2004. World-renowned for being the year of ‘The Invincibles’. The last coach, until the arrival of Alonso, who did not know defeat in all his league games was the Italian Antonio Conte with Juventus in 2012. Now, in his first full season in the elite, Xabi Alonso reaches his historical full potential.
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