Xabi Alonso: “I was lucky to have a friend in our neighbourhood who was also crazy about football. His name was Mikel. Every day, we were taking our skateboards down to the beach to play tennis, to surf & of course, to play football.”
“This kid, he was maybe even crazier than me about football. He was a little bit younger than me & my friends - just a few months maybe, but you know how you always push your ‘little friends’ at that age? Well, we tried, but he was a competitive monster.”
“He wanted to win so badly, even if it was just a game on the beach. It was a love for the game that you cannot teach. You are born with it, I think. It bonded us very closely & it still does, to this day.”
“A few months ago, I got a call from my old friend Mikel & as always, we talked football. He said, ‘We’ve got Bayern Munich in the Champions League this week, what do you think?’. And I said, ‘We’ve got West Ham, what do you think?’.”
“If you would have told us back then that we would be managing Arsenal & Leverkusen in 30 years, I think we would have been very happy & very shocked. Of course, we probably would have said, ‘Wait, we made it as players first, right? OK, thank God. Just making sure…’”
[@TPTFootball] #afc
All I can say is that I'm proud of the team for their hard work and resilience. You have given it your best. Thank you Arsenal Football Club for making me dream again. We go again next season.
Prediction for this weekend games
Man City 2 : 2 West Ham
Arsenal 2 : 0 Everton
Brighton 1 : 2 Man United
Chelsea 1 : 1 Bournemouth
Liverpool 4: 2 Wolves
Villarreal 2 : 2 Real Madrid
Barcelona 3 : 1 Rayo Vallecano
Leverkusen 2 : 1 Augsburg
Hoffenheim 2 : 3 Bayern