Soon after Pep Guardiola tempted Xabi Alonso away from Real Madrid to instal him as Bayern Munich 's midfield general in August 2014, the Catalan coach admitted that "if I can help a player of mine become a coach, by adding something to his development, I'll be happy. Johan Cruyff and others did that for me, and now it's my obligation to pay it forward."

So it was Alonso who studied, learned and duly ripped up the history books at Bayer Leverkusen , then landing where he is now: the obvious choice to take over from Carlo Ancelotti at the Bernabeu, but also a man whose job security is diminishing by the weekend.

Madrid's under-pressure manager recently told the Coaches' Voice that when working for Guardiola at Bayern, "I was 32, I already had a lot of career under my belt, but in tw

See Full Page