Column: For European superclubs, winning doesn’t relieve the pressure
Xabi Alonso has survived 16 seasons in European soccer’s top three leagues. By itself that rare blend of talent and longevity marks him as one of the top players of the modern era.
Yet that’s actually the least of his accomplishments. Because in that time Alonso has endured just one losing season while winning three league titles, two Champions League trophies, two European Championships and a World Cup.
You could fit all the players with a similar resume into a phone booth.
And, while Alonso says the winning never gets old, it doesn’t get any easier, either. Even for superclubs like Bayern Munich, his current employer.
“It is hard,” said Alonso, 34, in his third season in Germany following stays with Liverpool of the English Premier League and Real Sociedad and Real Madrid of Spain’s La Liga. “When you are in a big club, always the expectations are so high. It’s like everyone is taking it for granted.”
Not just with Bayern Munich, winner of the last four Bundesliga titles. In Italy, Juventus has won five consecutive Serie A titles and in France, Paris Saint-Germain has claimed four straight Ligue 1 championships. Last season those three clubs combined to lose just nine times in 110 league matches.
Yet their supporters expect them to improve on that this season, expectations Alonso says just aren’t realistic.
“We have a great team and we have great players,” Alonso said by phone from Germany. “But if we are not on top of our game – or close to the top of our game -- we can be defeated at any time.”
That’s debatable. Bayern lost just seven of 70 Bundesliga games in Alonso’s time there. And it’s unbeaten in six games across four competitions – allowing just one goal -- this season heading into Wednesday’s game with Hertha Berlin (FS1, 11 a.m. PT).
You certainly can’t blame the opposition. According to the UEFA coefficient, a complicated formula that ranks Europe’s 54 first-division leagues, the Bundesliga is the continent’s second-best, behind Spain’s La Liga and ahead of the English Premier League. It’s difficult to be perfect on a weekly basis against that kind of competition.
“It’s always difficult to cope with that pressure. But that’s what you want; you want to have that challenge and to have that pressure,” said Alonso, whose two league goals in three games match his most since 2009-10, when he scored three times in 34 matches for Real Madrid.
“At the end,” he said “it’s [about] winning titles.”
Bayern Munich will try to do that this season with a new coach, Italian Carlo Ancelotti having taken over after Pep Guardiola bolted for Manchester City last spring. It was Bayern’s third coaching change in four years and that, too, is part of a trend among top European clubs.
Real Madrid has gone through three coaches in the last three seasons, winning two Champions League titles along the way. Manchester City won Premier League titles a season apart under two managers. And Juventus is on its third head man in four seasons.
Alonso believes that kind of constant change keeps complacency from ruining a successful club.
“It’s always like a fresh start for everyone,” said Alonso, who won a Champions League title under Ancelotti at Real Madrid. “A good manager, what he does is bring the best of each player. We’ll see how we finish, but so far so good.”
The ultimate finish, of course, would be another Champions League title and no manager has delivered more of those than Ancelotti, who has three. In fact, the domestic league seasons have become so predictable in so many countries outside England that the continental tournament is almost the only one that counts.
Alonso takes exception with that reasoning too.
“I don’t think that’s fair at all,” he said. “In Europe, there are so many great teams. Only one can win.”
This season may mark Alonso’s last chance at doing that. A three-time World Cup starter, he retired from the Spanish national team two years ago, his legacy as one of the most consistent and hardworking midfielders of his generation secure. And now, after nearly 700 games, he says his club career is closer to the end than the beginning as well.
“Physically I am good and mentally I am motivated,” said Alonso, whose contract runs out after this season. “When I feel something is missing from that equation then I will be the first one to say. ‘Xabi, it’s time to step aside and move on to something else.’
“But it’s not happening at this moment.”
kevin.baxter@latimes.com
Twitter: @kbaxter11
