Xabi Alonso has spoken to Jamie Carragher about his 'worst night ever' on the pitch with Real Madrid, as well as sharing memories of Liverpool's Champions League win in Istanbul.
Alonso is now manager of Real Socieded 'B', and spoke to Carragher's 'Greatest Game' podcast about his life in football.
Xabi Alonso
A Liverpool legend for his conduct on and off the pitch, Alonso spoke to his former Reds team-mate about that famous night in Turkey.
"I was angry at myself, thinking "we can't throw it away so easily, this is a beautiful chance", Alonso said of his attitude at half-time in the Ataturk Stadium.
"I was kind of embarrassed with what we were doing. More than thinking about the others it was painful, that was first [how I felt]. Later, Rafa changed. I thought "let's see how this works".
'To hear the boos from the fans was important because they didn't want to kill us but we thought "let's try and give them something to believe", try to have some hope."
Real Madrid
The rest, as they say, is history.
If there is such thing as regency in the European game, Alonso is it. As well as Real Sociedad, he amassed 280 matches for Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
It was in the Spanish capital that he experienced his hardest travail over 90 minutes, in the 5-0 defeat to Barcelona in 2010-11.
Pep Guardiola's side were undoubtedly the strongest side in Europe at the time, and Alonso spoke of the danger in facing the Catalans.
'We knew at that moment if we were too nice they were going to kill us,' he said.
"The league game in Camp Nou we lost 5-0 and that was the worst night I've ever lived on a football pitch. After 20 minutes I wanted to leave, to go home, shower, and go home.
"It was so painful. It gave us a big determination. We couldn't be too nice or we wouldn't have beaten them (the next season)."
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