Former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso has said that he regrets not winning the Premier League with his former Merseyside club even though they had a great team when he was in England. The current Bayern Munich midfielder spoke to author Simon Hughes for his latest book called ‘Ring of Fire’ where he revealed that he still cherishes the memories he made at Anfield.
The former Real Madrid player had left Liverpool in 2008 after a series of incidents when then manager Rafael Benitez led to him being surplus to requirements at the club. Liverpool had finished second in the 2007/08 season behind Manchester United and Alonso had played a key role in that campaign. However, a controversy surrounding the midfielder missing a game due to the birth of his child made then manager Benitez angry.
Alonso had left the English club when he was just 26-years old for Real Madrid and currently plays for Bayern Munich in Germany. Now, he stands at 34 with the same passion and spike for the game as he used to have as a 17-year old lad who joined Real Sociedad’s B team in Spain.
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The Spaniard recalls that when he had arrived at Liverpool in 2004, all great players were already at the club. He tells Hughes, “Carra [Jamie Carragher], Stevie, Sami and Didi [Hamman] were all huge influences on everyone else. All different characters, strong personalities. When each one of them spoke, I listened. They helped me improve as a player and as a person, and when I went back to Spain to play for the national team I felt a lot stronger through the experiences shared with them.”
Alonso said that he always had a great bonding with defender Jamie Carragher. He said, “I liked Carra the most. He is the biggest Scouser in the world. We got on well from day one. I think he realised that I loved football and he loves football too. We would watch games together and talk about it every day. I think he respected that I would enter arguments with him. He was always very loud; you could hear his voice above everyone else’s. I would say, ‘Carra, shut the **** up, you have no idea!’ He liked all of that: the confrontation.”
“The only thing I regret is not winning the Premier League with Liverpool. I’ll never know how that feels and experience the reaction of the city, as I did after Istanbul. It hurts because I know the people want the league title more than anything”
The Bayern maestro added that he would have loved to win the league title with Liverpool in 2009 which would have been even more satisfying than winning the Champions League. He said that “you need to have everything to win the league.” He continued, “these were my happiest times at Liverpool: Pepe [Reina] to [Daniel] Agger, Agger to me, me to Stevie and Stevie to [Fernando] Torres.
“Sometimes it would take less than 10 seconds to create an attack. The spine in that team was the best I’ve played in. You also have Carra and [Javier] Mascherano in the side – top-class players. There was skill, steel, and speed; it was very competitive, very intense. Very, very determined and committed.”
Talking about his regrets at Liverpool, the 34-year old added, “This side did not win anything together but we felt we could win everything. We had a few stupid draws at home and in the end, that’s why we did not win the league. We always had that feeling, that belief, and confidence. Nobody scared us. We went to the Bernabéu and won. We went to Old Trafford and won.
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We went to Stamford Bridge and won: big games, big occasions that define seasons. It frustrates me so, so much. In 2005, we won the Champions League with a not-so-good team. In 2007, we lost the Champions League final with a better team and a more convincing performance. In 2009, we played the best football and lost the least amount of games but still did not win the league. That is the beauty of football, I guess. It is not a straight line.”
But as he helped Spain win the 2008 European Championships, his club manager Benitez had already decided to sell the midfielder in a move which could only materialize in 2009 as he went back to Spain with Real Madrid.
The playmaker expressed how difficult it was for him to leave Liverpool. “Moving from Liverpool to Madrid was the most difficult step to make in terms of the decision. But I felt that I had new things to learn, new challenges to take. The only thing I regret is not winning the Premier League with Liverpool. I’ll never know how that feels and experience the reaction of the city, as I did after Istanbul. It hurts because I know the people want the league title more than anything,” Alonso added.
