On how Alonso has changed the way Real’s forward players operate, and his legacy at Liverpool…
The first question you shouldn’t ask me, you should ask him because I don’t know what he did. Like I said, they were for multiple years with Carlo Ancelotti very successful. How many Champions Leagues did Carlo win over there at Madrid? Three? That’s not too bad! We can only talk with a lot of respect about his career over there. Now Xabi does very well – they only lost one game and won the rest.
The second question was what kind of impact he had over here: he won the Champions League over here. I can only tell you because his playing time was quite a long time ago, but I did watch football back then, that he was very influential in the way he played. But people are also very positive about the human being he was over here. So, I think everybody talks with a lot of respect about the player he was but also about the human being he was here in Liverpool.
On Florian Wirtz…
You can say he started one out of the last four. You can also say he started already eight, nine, 10, 11 games this season. I’ve said this quite a lot, it’s not being used as an excuse but just to tell how it is, that many times we’ve had to play three games in seven days [with] only two days’ rest in between. For a player that comes from a different league – which is a very good league, by the way – I think nine out of 10 people would agree on the fact that the Premier League is a bit more intense, especially in all the games. Then if you look at that, then he already played a lot.
He has had his impact in many games but has been unlucky with the end product, either by himself or by his teammates. For me, he brought exactly what we expected – a player that can create a lot for the team, will have his goals as well. But I don’t think it comes as a surprise to anyone that if you are 22, 23, you come from a different league, that you might need some time to adjust to that intensity if you play every three days with only two days’ rest in between. I think before I was sitting here, Ryan Gravenberch was sitting here and it took him a while to adjust to the intensity, maybe even longer than it is going to take Florian.
