the return of the favorite son

[To quote Álvaro Arbeloa (see below), “vaya vistas…”]

As most of you know, Xabi Alonso grew up in Donosti (Donostia or San Sebastián), played for Real Sociedad between 1999 and 2004, and his Liga debut came with this team.  He still maintains strong ties to the club of his youth: “I always have La Real on my mind.  It’s the club I’ve supported all my life and I live and feel for it.”  Xabi’s father Periko and brother Mikel of course also played for Real Sociedad, and Xabi has said that he hasn’t ruled out returning to the team in the future (in the far future, I hope).

Xabi debuted for la Real at the hands of Javier Clemente: “I didn’t tell him anything, I just put his name on the list of called up players and that was it.  He wasn’t nervous or anything.  He was happy.  He was always a willing kid with a lot of personality, fantastic.  He was educated well by his father, Periko.”  And now, 11 years later, he’s returning to the Anoeta for the first time as a Real Madrid player (officially – the two clubs played a friendly in August 2009 to mark the centennial of the Basque club).

Xabi became a socio of la Real (number 6,688) at an early age and is now also a shareholder in the club, and probably the only one tonight who will want la Real to lose.  Of his old club, he said yesterday to bwin: “it’s the team of my city.  I’ve supported la Real since I was a kid and at the age of 10 I had a season pass and went to all the games.”  Including a certain Real Sociedad-Real Madrid match in 1992, the first time Xabi ever watched Madrid live (his favorite memory of the game is of la Real coach John Toshack running towards the middle of the field after a goal by one of his players).

Xabi also retains strong ties to the city – he still has a house there, and spends his summers there.  That affection was reciprocated by the city yesterday, when the Gipuzkoako Football Federation presented Xabi with their gold and diamond insignia – the highest distinction they give out – to honor him for his career.  This made Xabi very “proud and happy.”  Juan Luis Larrea, president of the federation, had this to say about Xabi: “he’s the only player from Gipuzkoa (the province of País Vasco where San Sebastián is located) who is a world champion.  We’ve known him since he was a kid and we’ve followed his career.  He’s serious and reserved, and works very hard.”

Don’t you think that without the beard, Xabi doesn’t look much different than his 21-year-old self (first picture, when he took on Real Madrid in 2003)?  He just has more gel in his hair now than before.

Xabi was also very happy to be back in his hometown, even tweeting his sentiments!  Álvaro had tweeted a picture of the emblematic Playa de la Concha, saying “what a view!” and Xabi re-tweeted it, adding, “home sweet home!”