Anfield hero Xabi Alonso has told FourFourTwo that failing to clinch the Premier League title with the Merseyside club will always remain one of his big career disappointments.
Alonso, now retired after hanging up his boots at Bayern Munich, spent five years at the club from 2004 to 2009 before joining Real Madrid for £30m – but the closest he came to lifting the top-flight trophy was when the Reds finished second in his final season.
Although Liverpool won 10 of their last 11 matches in 2008/09, including a 4-1 thumping of title rivals Manchester United, a bumpy spell in the new year had given them too much to do.
Liverpool won 10 of their last 11 matches in 2008/09, but a bumpy spell in the new year had given them too much to do
Alonso, despite having won the Champions League in his first season with the club, chalks down the lack of domestic glory as something he will look back on with regret.
“I have few regrets, but not to win La Liga with Real Sociedad when we were so close; not to win the Premier League with Liverpool when we were so close; and not to win the Champions League with Bayern… we were so close,” the Spain legend told FourFourTwo.
Alonso elaborated on his Champions League heartbreak with Bayern from last season, when the German giants bowed out in the last eight against his former club Real Madrid.
Bayern had lost the first leg 2-1 at home before rallying to make it 3-3 on aggregate with 13 minutes remaining. Arturo Vidal was sent off with six minutes remaining, however, and Madrid scored three goals in extra time to win 6-3 on aggregate.
It broke my heart but that’s football, that’s life. You need to carry on
“The quarter-final was quite an emotional game for me to go back to Madrid, but at the same missing the chance to play my last Champions League final.
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“It broke my heart but that’s football, that’s life. You need to carry on, and that’s it.”
Watch the full video below, as Xabi tells us what he would have been if he wasn’t a footballer, the one thing he’d change about the game and the item he cherishes the most
Xabi Alonso was speaking at the Champions League Trophy Tour event at the adidas Oxford Street store. Follow @adidasuk
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Joe was the Deputy Editor at FourFourTwo until 2022, having risen through the FFT academy and been on the brand since 2013 in various capacities.
By weekend and frustrating midweek night he is a Leicester City fan, and in 2020 co-wrote the autobiography of former Foxes winger Matt Piper – subsequently listed for both the Telegraph and William Hill Sports Book of the Year awards.
