When it comes to Liverpool supporters’ favourite players of all time, Xabi Alonso is usually rather high up on the list.
Sheer class, both on the pitch and off, Alonso will go down as an Anfield legend even though he spent just five seasons on Merseyside.
Alonso struck up a harmonious relationship in the centre of the park with Steven Gerrard and his ability to spray the ball wide, coupled with his proclivity for catching goalkeepers off their lines, quickly endeared him to Reds fans.
And while he will go down as a fan favourite, the Spaniard has his own favourite from his time at Anfield, in Jamie Carragher.
“I liked Carra the most,” Alonso told Simon Hughes in Ring of Fire.
“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.”
At Liverpool, Alonso developed from promising talent into a full-fledged Spanish team regular and he credits his evolution to the senior players at Anfield from whom he learned so much.
“Carra [Jamie Carragher], Stevie, Sami and Didi [Hamman] were all huge influences on everyone else,” he said. “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.”
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