It’s the continuation of Xabi Alonso week!
Xabi is the latest Real Madrid player to feature in the gay fashion/lifestyle magazine, Shangay (Sergio Ramos had previously made an appearance). They spoke to him during the launch of Gillette’s moisturizing aftershave. I’m all translated out from doing the last Xabi magazine article, so here are the highlights from the article:
on Mourinho: he’s a great guy, he has a very thought out way of working and he knows what he has to do in each moment.
on the locker room: we all get along very well.
on Alberto Contador: he’ll always be a champion to me.
on what he does every day: right now I’m focused on my sport and my children, and between those two I don’t have much time for anything else.
on his favorite places to travel to: I love going on getaways to Rome, Paris or London, which is one of my favorite cities. Bangkok impressed me, and one of my favorite hotels, the Park Hyatt, is there. If I want to relax, I go to the Seychelles. I would like to go to Australia and New Zealand.
on what a perfect morning consists of: going out to have breakfast with my wife, and having orange juice, coffee with milk, a croissant and two hours to read all the newspapers.
on what he’s currently reading (Xabi prefers to read recently published books): Daniel Estulin’s Conspiración Octupus and Antonio Salas’ El palestino (at the same time).
on movies: I go to the cinema regularly. I didn’t really like George Clooney’s The American. I did like the one from Woody Allen a lot, in part because it was shot in London.
on music: Andrés Calamaro (I was at his concert 15 days ag0), Joaquín Sabina, Quique González, Coldplay.
on technology: I have everything from Apple – a desktop computer, a Macbook, an iPad – except the mobile phone, which is a Blackberry. I go online everyday, and I like going to the web site of National Geographic, and I also like poking around eBay. [Seriously, could he get more perfect?]
on city living and San Sebastián: I like it a lot, I’m a city boy, and if the city is by the sea… perfect. San Sebastián is a perfect city in that respect, and if you want to find me, look for me in the old neighborhood of this city, in the pintxo bars.
on his favorite restaurants in Madrid: La Manduca de Azagra, Julián de Tolosa, Kabuki for Japanese food… Madrid has an incredible selection.
on his favorite restaurant for Basque food: Elkano, in Getaria, never disappoints. [Next time I go there, I’m stalking the restaurant.]
on his day to day beauty routine: basic hygiene, with shower gel, shampoo, deodorant. A bit of cream for the hair, a moisturizer like this one from Gillette, which I love, and cologne (he uses Bvlgari Man).
on fashion: the last thing I bought was a winter coat. I go crazy for watches.
on life after football: I debate between maintaining ties to football or leaving everything behind and dedicating myself to something completely different.
on if he ever does crazy things: I let myself do something crazy once in a while. But I can’t tell you what.
Pictures are from here, thanks to Michelle for directing me there.