“I’m Basque, total Basque.” Xabi Alonso bristles as the thought that he could be defined as anything else, though there is a concession. He understands exactly how much Germany has shaped his current path, starting almost a decade ago when he arrived in the south of the country to begin a three-year spell with Bayern Munich that would see him through to retirement. “But with big German influence now,” he adds.
The Bundesliga’s – and perhaps Europe’s – hottest coach is calm and methodical, and though he must be aware of how extensively he is lauded, he appears to pay little mind to it. If it feels as if the production of Alonso the Coach is moving at breakneck speed – at least partly owing to the mesmeric power of his Bayer Leverkusen side’s football, as well as their excellent results – the man himself gives little to no impression of having been swept up in a frenzy.
