Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso has revealed he was desperate to help the club win the Champions League this season – the historic Decima trophy fans and players had craved for so long.
Speaking in a wide ranging interview on Cadena Cope, he said he would have felt a sense of underachievement if he went through his career at the club without winning the famous trophy.
Alonso played a crucial role in the run to the final but had to sit out the showpiece event in Lisbon through suspension.
He said: “I was dying to win the Champions League. If you play for Real and you haven’t won it, it seems that you haven’t made history.”
The ex-Liverpool star also recognised the role former boss Jose Mourinho played in getting the team ready to make that final step. The Portuguese is considered by many to have failed in his three years at the Bernabeu for not winning the Champions League, but Alonso says he helped get Madrid past the last 16 hurdle that they kept falling at prior to his arrival.
“I have been with Pellegrini, with Mourinho and now I’m right behind Ancelotti. People pigeon-hole you. Mourinho was vital after so many years seeing Real crash out in the group of 16 stages. Getting back on track was important, but obviously nobody could be happy as that was not the objective,” he stated.
