Xabi Alonso was a fantastic player back in the day, leaving an amazing trace at Anfield and Santiago Bernabeu, among other places. A true versatile midfielder, one would say defensive or holding, but the Spaniard was much more than that. And one thing’s for sure – his balls had eyes.Those passes were especially genuine works of art.Xabi Alonso didn’t loose his pass skills… Magnificent pic.twitter.com/BMNIpwVHLD— Mar’tics (@martics97) October 17, 2023 Years have passed, and Xabi Alonso is no longer a player but a coach. Still, he’s obviously as spectacularly skilled as he used to be. Another proof of that came these days through the words of his former Bayer Leverkusen player, Jonathan Tah. The new Bayern Munich defender spoke openly and emotionally about Xabi Alonso’s unique style and skillfulness. Talking to The Players’ Tribune, Tah revealed how the new Real Madrid boss showed him once who the boss on the pitch was.”There was a drill where we had to play long balls behind the defence to our wingbacks, and all of a sudden Xabi stopped me: ‘No Jona, not like that.'” said Tah, who thought he played a pretty good pass.##NAJAVA_MECA_8957791##Alas, Xabi Alonso thought differently…”He was like: ‘The ball has to be… sharper’. I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He tried to explain, but then he said: ‘Here, give me the ball’.He took a touch, turned and struck a diagonal cross that floated across to the other side, straight as an arrow.”Consolation prize: Instead of Wirtz, Bayern sign TahXabi Alonso already has a plan for Real Madrid – three superstarsOkay Bayern, why don’t you just buy Leverkusen’s entire squad?Tah says that the ball had landed on the shoe of one of Leverkusen’s wingbacks, who didn’t even have to slow down to control it. Any amateur could have brought it down. “Xabi turned to us: … that’s what I mean by sharper’. I was like, ‘You have to be joking…’ Even the sound the ball makes when he strikes it is different. Ping. You could turn away, listen to the ball and know it’s Xabi,” explained Tah, who had then turned to his teammates, asking them how he would do that!?”Everyone just started laughing. None of us could do what Xabi did,” concluded Tah.
