Alonso says his biggest regret at Liverpool was not winning the league
Xabi Alonso has just one regret about his time at Liverpool: he wasn’t able to win the Premier League.
It’s been a long and arduous title drought at Liverpool Football Club. The fans and city has deserved a title and the team they put out until 2010 thoroughly deserved one too.
The midfield included Steven Gerrard, Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso with peak Fernando Torres up top. Jamie Carragher in defense, but they were only able to finish second in 2009.
“To win the league you need to have everything,” Alonso said, via a brilliant interview with The Guardian. “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. 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.”
Alonso still thinks that team could’ve, maybe should’ve, won anything.
“This side did not win anything together but we felt we could win everything,” said Alonso. “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. 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.”’
As far as the team is concerned, he loved his mates.
“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.”
Carragher was a close friend to Alonso and took well to the Spaniard from day one.
“I liked Carra the most,” he continues. “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 fuck up, you have no idea!’ He liked all of that: the confrontation.”
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