Zinedine Zidane’s exit has seen the former Real Madrid midfielder and Raul Gonzalez, Mauricio Pochettino and Antonio Conte – connected with arrival at Valdebebas.
Alonso is at Sansa and that is the place where he wants to be
Xabi Alonso appears to have thrown cold water on the rumours linking him with the vacant Real Madrid job. Zinedine Zidane’s exit has seen the former Real Madrid midfielder and Raul Gonzalez, Mauricio Pochettino and Antonio Conte – connected with arrival at Valdebebas. Still, he is happy where he is for now. “I want to do things at my own pace and go my own way,” Alonso told reporters. “I’m at Sansa now, and that is where I want to be. It is the best place for me. I am lucky that I spend a lot of time with my players; we have a very open relationship.” Continuing the conversation, Alonso then began to reflect on some of the moments he enjoyed during his playing days with Liverpool, Real Sociedad, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
The former midfielder remains disappointed not to play in the UCL final in which Madrid win ‘La Decima’
Despite the fascinating memories at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, which he spoke of, he remains disappointed not to play in the Champions League final in which Los Blancos win La Decima. “When I got that yellow card, I sunk,” Alonso said. “It wasn’t very smart on my part. Even despite not playing, I felt very involved.” One of his worst memories came at the Camp Nou, losing 5-0 to a rampant Barcelona. “It was hard to play that game,” Alonso said. “They were a great team, and everything worked for them. It was a time when I felt worse than anyone else on the field. After that 5-0, we started competing much more and won LaLiga the next year. We became a team that was a winning and scoring machine. We were deadly.”
Leaving Real Madrid to join Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich was not a decision he took lightly, but one that made sense to him at the time. “I had no particular reason to leave Real Madrid, – explained Alonso. “Carlo Ancelotti believed in me, but the chance to join Bayern arose, and I was interested. I was 32 years old, and there will be no more chances like that.”