This weekend, Xabi Alonso will step into the midfield control room for the final time.
Retirement beckons for the Bayern Munich midfielder and after 18 seasons at the top of the game, Alonso will hang up his cultured boots.
The top prize in club football, the Champions League, arrived in 2005 with Liverpool and Alonso got his hands on the trophy for a second time with Real Madrid almost a decade later.
League titles and domestic cups in both Spain and Germany, along with an FA Cup triumph for the Reds, are just some of the brightest memories on which Alonso will look back fondly when he finally reflects on a glittering career.
That’s not to mention the World Cup and pair of European Championship triumphs Alonso has to his name.
But that’s not to say that the 35-year-old is without regrets.
In a terrific interview with The Times, Alonso has opened up on the three things from his career that he wishes had gone differently.
“Maybe I have three,” Alonso said. “With Real Sociedad, my club, we were one game from winning La Liga [in 2002-03]. With Liverpool we were so close to the Premier League. With Bayern, so close to the Champions League. But maybe that would be too much to ask, too perfect.
“If you can call them regrets . . . but that’s just football. When I look back, I can be happy that I’ve done what I wanted, dictated my path.”
The Spaniard is a banker to enjoy a successful spell as a coach but Alonso is not going to rush down that career path.
He insisted that he will allow himself a break after Bayern’s final league game at home to Freiburg because he tends to get bogged down in the pressure of matches.
“Sometimes I think about the games too much,” he added. “I’ve lost a lot of sleep thinking about matches for days before, days after.”
Alonso remains a firm fan favourite on the red half of Merseyside but it’s a player from a different Premier League side who he has identified as the most exciting young English player.
He is a huge fan of Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Eric Dier who, coincidentally, has been linked in the past with joining Bayern and replacing Alonso.
But those are daunting shoes to fill and Dier will be doing well if he can accomplish a fraction of what the man, the myth, the legend Xabi Alonso has managed in his career.
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