Arne Slot’s successor has been embarrassed by Xabi Alonso in his side’s Champions League opener.
Bayer Leverkusen went invincible in the Bundesliga last season, ending Bayern Munich’s dominance, in Alonso’s first season in charge. The Liverpool legend turned down the Liverpool job, after Jurgen Klopp announced he was leaving, and has stayed on in Germany for another season.
On Thursday evening his side took on Feyenoord, now managed by Brian Priske, after Slot joined Liverpool in the summer.
Slot’s replacement saw his side destroyed 4-0 at home, with all four of the goals coming in the first half of the game. Florian Wirtz got a brace on his Champions League debut, which sandwiched Alejandro Grimaldo’s strike, before the Dutch side saw their goalkeeper, Timon Wellenreuther, score an own-goal to complete an awful half.
Feyenoord were better in the second period but there was no real threat of a comeback, with their increased energy not stopping the German side from creating even more chances, however thankfully for the Dutch side, they were not converted.
Priske under pressure
The home side were jeered off by their own supporters, with the result compounding their poor start to the season, currently sitting 8th in the Eredivisie. They were runners up last season under Slot, whilst winning the KNVB Cup, and won the league the previous season, with the fans celebrating Slot on his exit.
Slot has made an impressive start to life in Liverpool and it is not being replicated by Priske in Rotterdam at the moment. In the pre-Slot era the club’s expectations were to gain some kind of European football and challenge for the title for as long as possible. These have changed since Slot however, with reports suggesting the goal is now to become champions every year, and that Priske is already under pressure.
Feyenoord take on NAC Breda and NEC in the league before travelling to Spain to face Girona, where they will hope they can get a result which sees them move up from second last in the newly-formatted Champions League table.
