REPORTS today suggest that Xabi Alonso has told Bayern Munich he plans to retire at the end of the 2016-17 season.
The Spaniard has been at the Allianz Arena since 2014, having previously been at Real Madrid and, of course, Liverpool.
His stellar career has spanned over 18 years and in that time he has won almost everything there is to win at club and international level; including a Champions League and FA Cup trophy in five years at Liverpool.
Here, Neil Atkinson recalls the Spaniard’s time at Anfield and the moment when Reds realised Liverpool had signed a special talent.
IT’S the game against Norwich City. That was the one. This midfielder that everyone had said was special turned up and he pinged it. And he pinged it. And he pinged it. His hair bounced around the gaff and he pinged it.
He hadn’t been scouted yet and he made playing centre midfield at Anfield look like the easiest thing in the world. Look like a joy. Made you weep, made you weak.
This was Xabi Alonso’s proper introduction to five seasons at Anfield. It was his big hello. We swooned and we would continue to do so.
That first season was steeped in class and in pinging it but two gutsy performances prior to Istanbul showed the footballer he would become — one at home against Arsenal, one away at Juventus. The former was against a truly great side and while it would overstate it to say he ran the show, he ensured no-one else would.
The latter, my god. Back from a broken ankle and he dominated. It’s one of the truly great 90 minute performances in Liverpool’s European history. Antonio Nunez, Igor Biscan and Milan Baros around him. It’s 90 minutes which defined a man and went on to define a career. It wasn’t just about pinging it, it was about running a game, metronomic in and out of possession. My god. When I think about it today, my god.
Istanbul was what it was. A glorious moment but the season had been inconsistent. The following season, though, was tremendous. When Steven Gerrard got sent off in the Derby and the Blues went wild and then Alonso decided to absolutely ruin them, running another game in adversity. Liverpool resplendent, Alonso imperial — understanding football on a macro and micro level. Every big idea, every fine detail.
Where Gerrard was the chorus, the big chorus, Alonso was the verse. He’d get you there with class before lighters out, the big sway, the huge singalong. The two of them clearly loved the bones of each other, saw what the other could do that they couldn’t. That said I actually think Alonso ever so slightly struggled between a combination of that trip to Japan, injury and the growth around him. He wanted to be constantly integral but Liverpool found it harder to rely on him.
The third and fourth seasons grew tougher, though he was my pick of the Liverpool players in Athens, before his fifth. The 2008-9 season. As this crop begins to retire, it’s no disgrace to reflect on how close they pushed what could well be the greatest of Manchester United sides. What hurt then can hurt less with time. This was Alonso’s finest season – dovetailing with Javier Mascherano he fit beautifully with Dirk Kuyt, Gerrard, Fernando Torres and whoever Benitez lashed in the other position.
I saw him in Heebies once, you know. Everyone saw him once somewhere. He lived in the city and embraced it, a young man in his 20s, switched on, travelling, learning, being. I saw him and said “played well today” and he said “thanks”. Well in everyone there.
He left Liverpool, went to Madrid and won the lot, was part of a golden Spanish generation. He went to Bayern Munich. What a CV, what a career. The lad who pinged it with aplomb, hair bouncing, had the brains and developed the brawn to be a true great of the game, his hair harder, like him. I’ll remember Norwich, of course I will, but the rest of it, I mean, walk around it.
It probably isn’t the last we hear of him. In a way very few players actually manage, he embodies so much of what is good about the game in this century when we can’t quite pin footballers down, the gilded weirdos that we perceive them to be. His decency is clear and always was. The player magnificent, the man quite clearly sound.
He isn’t solely one of ours, we can’t claim him in that annoying way we claim things. He belongs to the Basque Country, to Sociedad. He belongs to Spain, to Madrid. He belongs to Munich, to Europe. But to have had him, to have watched him, to have seen him grow. He belongs to us too. Resplendent in Red, magisterial, everybody wants to know, Alonso, Alonso, Alonso.
Recent Posts:
[rpfc_recent_posts_from_category meta=”true”]
Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda Photo
God, yes. What a player and evidently, what a dude. We all adore Carra and SG but it doesn’t feel treasonous to say he’s my favourite Pool player of the past 15 years. Certainly my favourite footballer generally. Ticked all the boxes: Basque; summer in Ireland as a kid; supreme taste in all things, especially music (Wilko woolie hat, anyone?), though crucially without ever having to make an effort; glorious cv, lovely family, cracks jokes with Carra – I could go on. Everyone focuses on when Steven is going to become manager and he’s declared he wants Xabi as his number two but fuck it, it might even be better the other way round…
Not to mention what he achieved with Spain.
The 4-4 Champions League QF at Chelsea in ’09 always stands out for me. He orchestrated everything we tried that night, one of those games where you saw someone giving everything they had for the cause. Even though it wasn’t to be, it felt like it was going to happen because we had Xabi. That he was patently on his way out of Anfield at the time just showed the mark of the man, too.
Here’s a compilation of his passes in that Norwich game. I can still remember the sense of wonder in the ground that day. “What a player we’ve signed here!”
https://youtu.be/xA57Hlkl1ZI
I met him in Sapporo when I went to celebrate getting a job. Bumped into him coming back from the gents.
I said hello and that I hoped he got well soon (he was carrying a knock). He asked me what I had for dinner. He was an absolute gent and I was a bumbling starstruck fool.
We both had the monkfish so that makes us dinner brothers or something, I’ve decided.
Great stuff , as ever Neil – well in .
An absolute monster of a player. Everything about him oozes class.
Now he’d be one to get back on the coaching staff, in my opinion…….