Xabi Alonso at XLSemanal

Another article from Xabi Alonso Month!  Hopefully, the month will extend to incorporate November as well, no?  Anyway, Xabi was interviewed by XLSemanal at the end of October, and topics ranged from being a professional footballer to his experiences in South Africa to what his wife thinks about football.  And since this has to do with Xabi becoming Gillette’s spokesperson, he’s clean-shaven in all the photos, and we find out that Xabi’s only learned to use creams, cleansers, and exfoliating gel in the last two years, because “we’re always outdoors, we sweat a lot in training sessions and we shower several times a day, and so our skin becomes dry.”

Q:  Besides Cristiano Ronaldo, who is the most appearance-conscious person in the locker room?

A:  After Cristiano, there’s no doubt that it’s Sergio Ramos.

Q:  And you’re not vain?

A:  I like to take care of myself, but not become a slave to how I see myself in the mirror.  I firmly believe in natural beauty and I try to be the least artificial possible.

Q:  Is making a living off of football like prolonging one’s childhood?

A:  In the sense that you continue doing what made you excited when you were a kid, yes.  When I was in school, I never imagined that I would end up living off of this.  But when you’re a professional, things change a lot.  This life is full of commitments.  Throughout the years, I’ve seen that all my friends have had more time to enjoy their lives than I’ve had.  They have weekends off!  However, I wouldn’t change this for anything.

Q:  Does one play with more determination as a champion of the world?

A:  ¡Buf!  It doesn’t count for anything!  It’s almost forgotten already!  Now, when you go out onto the field, you have things to prove, but the satisfaction is still there.  Sometimes, you stop to think about it and you realize that what we achieved was really big.

Q:  People still have the sensation that their dreams came true.

A:  Since we were so far away, we couldn’t sense how things were in Spain.  We were concentrating on playing and fighting to win each game, and the feeling was different, like everything was much smaller.  But then later on, when we landed here, it hit us, it was tremendous and it impacted me.

Q:  Is there any memory that has stayed with you?

A:  I won’t forget the complicated moment just before the game against Chile.  It was very intense on the road between the hotel and the stadium.  The silence was impressive and you could almost cut the tension with a knife.  It was a decisive moment and getting past this game liberated all of us.  Later on, there are small details – when Iniesta scored, when Iker stopped a penalty – that in the end made everything really grand.

Q:  Have you already forgotten about the kick from De Jong?

A:  I didn’t think it was that important in that moment.  We’re used to receiving a lot of blows and in the heat of the game I didn’t feel that it was such an unusual kick.  But then I saw it in the video and I was amazed by how spectacular it was.  It’s impossible for me to forget because people keep asking me if I had the marks of his studs on my chest.

Q:  And did you?

A:  No!  The pain in my chest lasted a lot longer than any marks because I had bruises.  But I accept that this is part of the game and I don’t think he did it with any bad intentions.

Q:  These types of details are the ones you share with the people around you.

A:  You view things differently from the inside than the outside.  It was a month and a half from the time we started preparing for the World Cup until it ended, and the persons that you play with became your family.  I didn’t get to see my wife and my kids at all, which made time pass by very slowly.

Q:  Your family didn’t travel with you?

A:  No, because my children were too small at that time.

Q:  Is your wife tired of so much football?

A:  She’s getting there.  In the beginning, when we started, she liked it, but she wasn’t a fan.  Then, bit by bit, she became one.  But, with the passing of time, she’s gotten tired of it and always asks me how much longer this is going to last.  I tell her that it’ll be a few more years.  I don’t find it strange that she complains because we’re always traveling and in the end we have a lot of commitments.

Q:  You spent five years with Liverpool.  What did it mean to you as a footballer and a person to leave Spain?

A:  It was wonderful for me, in two ways.  First, because I was 22 years old and it was the first time that I was independent from my parents, and so I had to make my own life.  And professionally, it was a unique experience because in the UK people live for football and there is a different style which you have to adapt to.  It wasn’t easy!  You have to be like a sponge: observe, listen, learn as quickly as possible.

Q:  Is Anfield very different from the Bernabéu?

A:  Anfield is an impressive stadium and the moment where you hear the hymn is very special.  But the Bernabéu is imposing: it’s very demanding, but it also gives a lot back to you in return.

Thanks to reader Lorelei for mentioning this; pictures from here.