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#3 Xabi Alonso
“He was a player we wanted. But he is a player, who even though he is an extraordinary man and a great professional, left me perplexed by the slowness of his movement in midfield”. So said Claudio Ranieri, then manager of Juventus FC, when asked why the Grand old lady of Turin hadn’t signed Xabi Alonso after he had evinced interest in joining them.
This was way back in 2008, when Alonso had just returned from the wonderful success of La Furia Roja’s European Championship campaign, and had already established himself as the metronomic heart of Liverpool FC. Seven years on, he is slower still. But the quality of his football hasn’t dipped one bit.
From captaining his hometown club Real Sociedad (at age 21) to second place in La Liga in 2002-03 (from the brink of relegation no less), to winning the Champions League at his first attempt with the Merseysiders; from marshaling Real Madrid to their long awaited Decima to being an integral part of one of the greatest national teams ever – the tall, straight-backed Basque has done it all.
Now at Bayern, he looks like he’ll be pulling strings for some time to come, as he guides the Bavarian juggernaut on yet another season of utter domination.
What adds to his allure is that he’s done all that mostly while simply sitting comfortably deep within his own half. Why get out when you can do this from 70 yards, eh?
He may never have been able to run (with or without the ball) but he can calculate angles and trajectories faster than most anyone else on a football pitch, and that right foot can deliver through balls and long passes with military sniper-like precision. Even Simo Häyhä would have been proud of this one:
Titles: 1 x World Cup, 2 x European Championship, 1 x La Liga, 2 x Copa Del Rey, 1 x FA Cup, 2 x Bundesliga, 1 x DFB Pokal
