Xabi Alonso has backed Florian Wirtz to keep showing his best for Liverpool, calling his former Bayer Leverkusen star a "special player" hours before he returns to Anfield as Chelsea manager for tonight's Carabao Cup fourth-round tie.
Alonso, a Liverpool great as a player, brings his Chelsea side to Merseyside for an 8pm kick-off with a quarter-final place on the line — and the man he built his Leverkusen team around could be waiting for him in red, if Wirtz shakes off the ankle problem he picked up against Brighton.
"One of the main reasons I am here"
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Alonso made no attempt to hide what Wirtz means to him. "I can only speak about my time with Flo in Bayer Leverkusen and for sure one of the main reasons for me being here is the time that I spent with him in Leverkusen," he said, as reported by LiveScore. "He was a special player, he helped me so much, I learned so much from him and now that he's in Liverpool I'm following him and we know that the next step is always an interesting one and he's getting there."
The pair won the Bundesliga and German Cup double together in 2023-24, and Wirtz's €125 million (£116m) move to Liverpool in June 2025 — ahead of Bayern Munich and Manchester City — was always going to be judged harshly. Seven goals and 10 assists in a struggling side last season did not silence the critics, and Bayern legend Uli Hoeness said this week the 23-year-old should have chosen the German giants instead. But three goal contributions in his last four games, including a goal against Villarreal and assists against Brentford and LASK, suggest the tide is turning — and nobody will be surprised that Alonso saw it coming.
Wirtz touch and go, Palmer suspended
Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola is "quite optimistic" Wirtz will be available tonight, according to This Is Anfield, though Dominik Szoboszlai and Victor Munoz are less likely to feature. Our earlier ankle update tracked the German's race to be fit. The Reds have won four in a row, beat Brighton 2-0 at the weekend and are chasing a fifth straight victory — with rotation expected and Alexis Mac Allister among those who could come in, despite reports today that his long-term future lies away from Anfield.
Chelsea's problems are bigger. Top scorer Cole Palmer is suspended after his two yellow cards in Saturday's 2-0 home defeat by Tottenham, while Emiliano Martinez, Reece James and Joao Pedro are all missing and Pep Chavarria and Emmanuel Emegha are doubts. Former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson also returns to Anfield, though he may start on the bench after playing every minute of Chelsea's last four league games. Alonso himself has lost on both previous visits to Anfield as a manager, with Leverkusen and Real Madrid, and Chelsea have not won there in front of fans since a League Cup tie in September 2018.
So what does tonight decide?
For Chelsea, who have no European football this season, this competition matters more than it should for a club of their size — a defeat tonight, on top of the Tottenham loss, would turn a wobble into a genuine run of pressure on Alonso, whose Liverpool past buys him goodwill but not immunity. For Liverpool, the League Cup is the trophy they have won a record 10 times, beating Chelsea in the finals of 2022 and 2024, and a quarter-final place would keep a strong season rolling in every competition. If the scores are level after 90 minutes there is no extra time and no VAR — the tie goes straight to penalties.
Beyond the Final Whistle: There is a delicious cruelty in football's scriptwriting here. Alonso owes much of the reputation that took him to Stamford Bridge to Wirtz, and tonight the player he nurtured could be the one who deepens his first real crisis at Chelsea. The Spaniard's warm words were genuine — but if Wirtz is fit, cuts in from the left and curls one into the Kop end, Alonso will learn the hardest lesson of management at Anfield: sentiment lasts exactly as long as it takes the opposition's best player to touch the ball.
Will Wirtz haunt his old manager tonight, or can Alonso finally win at Anfield as a visiting boss? Let us know what you think in the comments.
