Former Liverpool superstar Xabi Alonso announced his retirement a couple of months back, much to the disappointment of millions of fans all over the world. He has always remained a fan favourite throughout his illustrious career, be it during his time at Real Sociedad, or Liverpool, or Real Madrid, or Bayern Munich. He is one of those very few players who are loved, even by the rival clubs’ fans.

However, even a successful player like Xabi Alonso seems to have few regrets in his playing career and he revealed them in an interview with The Times (Subscription required)

When he was questioned about the regrets he has in his career, he said:

“Regrets? Well, not quite. Too few to mention. Maybe I have three. 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 legend also recalled his Liverpool debut and he seemed quite amused to speak about that and recalled a tackle from Kevin Nolan who was then playing for Bolton Wanderers.

He added: “I remember [after] 15, 20 minutes I think it was a Kevin Nolan tackle, a ‘welcome to the Premier League tackle. Then there was [Jussi] Jaaskelainen from his kicks, not even trying to pass, just long balls up to Kevin Davies. I said to myself, ‘This is different. OK, Xabi, you want to make it here, become a pro with Liverpool you need to learn fast.’ “

And Alonso, being the champion that he is, won the Champions League at the end of his first season with Liverpool.

Bayern will play Freiburg in the final game of their league campaign having won the Bundesliga title. It will be the farewell game for Alonso who has had a stellar career with numerous trophies to show for. The game of football will certainly miss a legend like Alonso and he will, forever remain dear to the Liverpool fans for the beautiful Champions League trophy that he won with us.