Profile: Xabi Alonso

His name is known and revered throughout the footballing world: Xabier Alonso Olano a.k.a. Xabi Alonso, widely regarded as one of the top players on the planet, is now at FC Bayern. He is a World Cup winner and two-time European champion with Spain, and a Champions League winner in 2005 and 2014. Xabi Alonso knows how to win titles and now at the age of 32 he is seeking a new challenge at FCB.

The son of Periko Alonso was very young when he left home to make his way in the wide world. When he was 22 – five years after making his debut – he left Basque club Real Sociedad for life in the Premier League with Liverpool. Alonso proved to be a great success in England. He will always be remembered for helping the Reds turn round a 3-0 deficit at half-time in the 2005 Champions League final against AC Milan and go on to win the premier European club competition on penalties.

'El Profesor', as he is known back home, is a leader and a boss. He demonstrated that after his move to Real Madrid (2009) where he became a key player in midfield. The Real game lacked stability whenever Alonso, with his trademark beard, was sidelined through injury or suspension.

International career over

Alonso played an important part in Real Madrid's success last term. Bayern fans will have painful memories of the 4-0 second leg defeat in the Champions League semi-final against Real when Alonso pulled the strings with accurate passing, his strength in challenges and his technical quality. He missed the hard-fought victory in the final against local rivals Atlético due to a one-match ban.

Alonso will be 33 in November. The Spaniard knows he needs to give his body a rest from time to time. So he decided to hang up his boots for Spain – after an impressive 114 internationals. Alonso, a lover of culture and a model for an Italian fashion house, wants to focus completely on his new job. In Munich. At FC Bayern.

Top Clash at Schalke

The off-field action came fast and furious at Bayern this week with the Champions League draw, the vote for European Player of the Year, and two new signings. The fact that the double winners travel to Schalke for the big game of the Bundesliga weekend on Saturday (Live in English from 6.30 pm CET on Twitter and FCB.tv Web Radio) was relegated to the background, at least in the media.

“I’ve read the papers from time to time this week and no-one mentioned the game at Schalke. Not a word!” said Pep Guardiola, who has ignored all the hustle and bustle in the background and meticulously prepared his team for the clash with the side that finished third last term.

“We’ll need a big performance if we’re to win,” warned the FCB coach, “Schalke have very good players and it’s always tough there.” Thomas Müller knows that from experience: “There’s always a hostile atmosphere at Schalke.” That’s specially true when Bayern come to visit, and especially this season, as the Royal Blues can expect unconditional support from the home faithful following their disappointing start to the campaign.

Impressive streak in Gelsenkirchen

Jens Keller’s side were knocked out of the DFB Cup by third-tier Dresden and lost their opening league fixture away to Hannover. “I’ve watched both matches,” Guardiola reported. “Schalke didn’t deserve either defeat. We know what Saturday’s game means to them.”

However, after opening with the 2-1 win against Wolfsburg, Bayern are keen to push on and extend two remarkable streaks: FCB have won the last seven league meetings between the teams, and Manuel Neuer has won all six matches against his former club, conceding just a single goal in the process – and even that was an unlucky Rafinha own goal.

There was positive team news for Munich on the eve of the match. Jérôme Boateng is set to return from suspension and make a first appearance of term, and Franck Ribéry could also be back. The Frenchman resumed squad training last Wednesday and came through the final pre-match workout without any problems.

On the other hand, Arjen Robben is doubtful after taking a knock to the ankle against Wolfsburg; the Dutch winger sat out training this week. Guardiola announced that the week’s new arrivals Mehdi Benatia and Xabi Alonso would travel to Gelsenkirchen. “They’re both fit and they’ll come with us,” he said, although he declined to rate the chances of either man actually making a maiden appearance for the Reds.

Schalke team news

• Unavailable: Kevin-Prince Boateng (ankle), Fabian Giefer (groin), Sead Kolasinac (cruciate), Leon Goretzka (sprain), Jefferson Farfan (cartilage)
• Doubtful: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (flu)
• Captain Benedikt Höwedes: ”We can make good a lot of things in this match.”

Man City, Moscow, Roma !!!

It is a case of deja-vu for Bayern in the preliminary phase of this season’s Champions League after the 2013 winners were drawn to play two of their opponents from the same stage last year, English Premier League champions Manchester City and Russian cracks CSKA Moscow. Bayern were first out of the hat on the night, but there was a twist in the tail when the last ball saw Italian giants AS Roma complete the Group E line-up.

The draw for the first stage of Europe’s elite club competition was made at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on Thursday evening, supervised as always by UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino, and conducted on this occasion by former Real Madrid captains Iker Casillas, Fernando Hierro, Manuel Sanchis and Franciso Gento, and ambassador for the 2014 final, former Dortmund star Karl-Heinze Riedle.

The Bayern delegation comprised club president Karl Hopfner, chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, and his fellow board director Andreas Jung. Hopfner felt FCB had landed in “the toughest group,” whereas Rummenigge found the section “difficult but interesting. We’ll have to be focused right from the start if we’re to make the Round of 16.” Back in Munich, Matthias Sammer’s verdict was upbeat: “Normally you have at least one or even two easier opponents in the group stage but that’s not the case this time. The group is extremely attractive and very difficult, but also the right challenge for us. We have to be up for it right at the start, and that’s good for us."

Roma reunion for new boy Mehdi

The clash with Roma has special significance for new Munich signing Mehdi Benatia, who played for the Serie A side last season and finished as a league runner-up. Bayern last met the Italians in the 2010/11 group phase, winning 2-0 in Germany but falling to a narrow 3-2 defeat away from home. English champions City finished level on points at the top of the section last season but Munich won the group on the head-to-head comparison after winning 3-1 in Manchester and losing 3-2 at the Allianz Arena. CSKA came fourth and bottom last year with the Reds winning 3-0 in the Russian capital and 3-1 at home.

The seedings and assignments into pots were determined according to UEFA coefficients based on performance over the last five seasons. Each of the eight groups includes one team from each pot. Teams from the same country cannot be drawn together at the group stage, so Bayern could not have faced Schalke or Borussia Dortmund (both in pot two), or Bayer Leverkusen (pot three). The group stage matches all kick off at the usual time of 8.45 pm CET, with the exception of the away fixture in Moscow, which is brought forward due to the difference in time zones. FCB set out on the 2014/15 campaign in the home clash with City on Wednesday 17 September. The 2014/15 final takes place at Berlin Olympic Stadium on 6 June 2015.

Bayern’s Group E fixtures:

17 September: Manchester City (H)
30 September: CSKA Moscow (A)
21 October: AS Roma (A)
5 November: AS Roma (H)
25 November: Manchester City (A)
10 December: CSKA Moscow (H)

2014/15 Champions League groups

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Atletico Madrid	Real Madrid	Benfica	Arsenal
Juventus	FC Basel	Zenit St. Petersburg	Borussia Dortmund
Olympiacos Piraeus	Liverpool	Bayer Leverkusen	Galatasaray
Malmö FF	Ludogorets Razgrad	AS Monaco	RSC Anderlecht

Group E	Group F	Group G	Group H
FC Bayern	Barcelona	Chelsea	Porto
Manchester City	Paris Saint-Germain	Schalke 04	Shakhtar Donetsk
CSKA Moscow	Ajax Amsterdam	Sporting Lisbon	Athletic Bilbao
AS Roma	APOEL Nicosia	NK Maribor	BATE Borisov

Bayern "Optimistic" About Xabi Alonso

Shortly before the summer transfer window ends and following the signing of Mehdi Benatia, FC Bayern are poised to announce another star acquisition. Germany’s biggest club and 32-year-old Spanish world and European champion Xabi Alonso have “agreed in principle” on the midfielder joining Munich from Real Madrid, Bayern deputy chairman Jan-Christian Dreesen informed a press conference at the club’s Säbener Strasse HQ on Thursday.

“It is correct that we are in friendly and final talks with Real Madrid and will hopefully reach agreement in the next day or two,” Dreesen continued. Alonso will come to Munich in the course of the day for the obligatory pre-transfer medical. Dreesen also stressed that FCB are keen to sign Alonso outright and are not seeking a loan deal for the player.

“We believe it is necessary [to sign Alonso] for our team, to meet the requirements of our fans and the club as a whole,” commented board director for sport Matthias Sammer. “It was a purely sporting decision to help us immediately and raise our quality. Alonso’s constitution means he is capable of playing at the very highest level for at least another two years. We’re optimistic, and our squad will be in very, very good shape.”

The defensive midfielder joined Madrid in 2009 and collected a Champions League winners’ medal in May this year. He previously spent five years with Liverpool and Real Sociedad, interrupted by a year with SD Eibar. He made 114 appearances for Spain, winning the 2010 World Cup and the Euro in 2008 and 2012. He announced his retirement from the international game after Spain’s group stage exit from the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Bayern Munich Confirm Xabi Alonso is Set for Medical After Agreeing Two-Year Deal

Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso is on the verge of joining German champions Bayern Munich, the club have confirmed.

Bayern revealed on Thursday morning that talks had taken place for the 32-year-old, and he is travelling to Munich for a medical today. It is reported that the Spanish midfielder has agreed a two-year deal with Pep Guardiola's side, after Real Madrid accepted a fee worth around £8 million from their fellow European heavyweights.

Alonso, who recently announced his retirement from international football, was set to have found himself sidelined at Real for the coming season given the recruitment drive the club have performed over the summer. Alonso's place in the Real midfield was under threat following Toni Kroos' arrival, while James Rodriguez is also set to play an important role this term.

Bayern confirmed earlier this week that they had signed Roma centre half Mehdi Benatia, who signed a five-year contract following his £20 million move. Alonso is now set to join up with the Moroccan to add more valuable experience to the first team squad.

Both players have been brought in as a reaction to the injury to Javi Martinez, who suffered what looks to be a season ending knee-ligament injury.

Bayern are set to announce the completion of the deal later on Thursday.

Neuer and Robben Aiming for the Top

Manuel Neuer. Arjen Robben. Or Cristiano Ronaldo? The decision will be made on Thursday. Who will be European Footballer of the Year in 2014? “Both Manu and Arjen more than deserve it. They’ve performed brilliantly for FC Bayern in the past few seasons and they made their mark at the World Cup in Brazil,” said chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

This year’s winner and successor to Franck Ribéry will be announced at around 19.05 CET following the Champions League group draw in Monaco. Will it be another FC Bayern player? The vote is open to journalists from 54 UEFA member states.

Neuer and Robben will join FCB board members Rummenigge, Jan-Christian Dreesen and Andreas Jung at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The Bayern group set off for Nice from Munich on Thursday afternoon. The last stretch to the Principality will be made by helicopter. The Bayern delegation will return home straight after the event.

First keeper in 51 years?

“It will be good,” said Robben, “it’s already a great, great reward for my whole career.” The Dutchman is “proud of being in the top three in Europe. But I obviously hope I come out on top.” And Neuer is equally keen to get his hands on the trophy. “It’s not easy for a goalkeeper to win an individual award,” said the 28-year-old.

If Neuer does win, he would be the first German shot-stopper to claim the award and only the second goalkeeper after the Russian Lev Yashin 51 years ago. Bayern’s number one has already been named the World Goalkeeper of the Year, Germany’s Footballer of the Year and the best keeper at the World Cup. Could he take the number one title too?

Lahm and Badstuber: Win Sport Bild Award

A great honour for a Bayern duo. Skipper Philipp Lahm and Holger Badstuber picked up the 2014 SPORT BILD award in Hamburg on Monday evening. Lahm received the ‘Four Star Award’ for winning the World Cup with Germany and Badstuber won the ‘Comeback of the Year’ award. The winners in ten separate categories were presented with the awards at an event attended by over 800 guests from the worlds of sport, media, business, politics and culture.

UEFA invite for Guardiola

Pep Guardiola has been invited to the annual UEFA Elite Club Coaches Forum on the afternoon of 3 September and the morning of 4 September at the UEFA HQ in Nyon (Switzerland). UEFA coaching ambassador Sir Alex Ferguson has invited an illustrious group of coaches to the forum including Arsène Wenger (Arsenal), Luis Enrique (Barcelona), José Mourinho (Chelsea) and Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid). The other Bundesliga coaches invited are Jürgen Klopp (Borussia Dortmund), Roger Schmidt (Bayer Leverkusen) and Jens Keller (Schalke 04). The meeting will give coaches the opportunity to discuss current issues and present UEFA with ideas to “benefit European football as a whole”.

Bayern Agree Terms With Roma for Benatia

A few days before the summer transfer window closes, FC Bayern are poised to sign another new player. Late on Tuesday afternoon the German double winners and AS Roma agreed the terms of a deal brining Moroocan international Mehdi Benatia to Munich. The player will move for an undisclosed fee.

Benatia will come to the Bavarian capital in the next few days for the obligatory pre-transfer medical. Provided all is satisfactory, the 27-year-old centre-back will sign a five-year contract.

Germany Are U20 World Champions

FC Bayern midfielder, Jennifer Gaugigl and Co. have done it! After a hard-fought 1:0 win over Nigeria in Sunday night's dramatic final in Montreal, coach Maren Meinert's team has won the trophy for the third time since 2002. The winning goal came from University of Central Florida forward, Lena Petermann, eight minutes into extra-time. Germany can now claim two World Cup trophies in the same summer.

The win over Nigeria did not come easy for Germany, though. Meinert's team was outplayed by a strong Nigeria side for much of the match, but were resilient defensively and took their chance when it mattered most. Nigeria forward, Asisat Oshoala, who eventually won the Golden Boot as the tournament's top scorer, proved a consistent threat for Germany.

It took until the second half for Germany to settle and create some chances of their own, but Nigeria kept knocking on their door. Goalkeeper Meike Kaemper had to make some fine saves, and Nigeria even had a goal disallowed due to offsides. The breakthrough came in extra-time when Pauline Bremer made a bursting run down the right, got past her marker and squared it off to an open Petermann to win the game in heartbreaking fashion.

Pizzaro hands Bayern victory over Chivas

Veteran goal-getter Claudio Pizarro struck the only goal of the game in New Jersey on Thursday evening as FC Bayern defeated Mexican cracks CD Guadalajara in their first serious test of the pre-season period. Coach Pep Guardiola’s men contributed their fair share to an entertaining encounter in the Audi Football Summit at the Red Bull Arena in front of a boisterous 25,073 capacity crowd, who witnessed crunching tackles, a few slick passing moves and Pizza’s expertly taken tenth-minute winner.

In the sixth friendly match of the summer Guardiola was still without a host of the club’s vacationing World Cup stars. Thursday’s line-up was almost identical to the team that won the Telekom Cup against Wolfsburg in Hamburg last weekend, with one solitary change: centre-back Holger Badstuber took a rest with Rafinha restored to the starting line-up. During the customary raft of substitutions in the course of the game, Xherdan Shaqiri amassed his first few playing minutes since resuming training last week.

The play was tight and evenly-matched for long spells as FCB were pushed hard by their agile and energetic Mexican opponents and struggled a little for fluency in the early exchanges. However, the Europeans ruthlessly converted their first scoring opportunity of the evening when Pizarro glanced home Franck Ribéry’s tenth-minute corner.

The men from Munich increasingly adapted to Guadalajara’s pass-and-move game now and were well worth the lead by the time half an hour had been played. The evergreen Pizarro came close on 24 and 32 minutes, with youngster Gianluca Gaudino again giving an impressive statement of his credentials. Captain for the night Ribéry, operating behind the front two and down the inside left channel, injected pace and precision into FCB’s attacking moves.

The flow of the game was interrupted after half-time as the Mexicans switched out almost their entire starting eleven and Bayern legs grew heavier. Ribéry came closest to doubling the score with a quarter-hour left to play, but the German double winners ultimately had keeper Tom Starke to thank for salvaging the prestigious win with a superb save after 81 minutes, denying Carlos Fierro what would have been a certain equaliser.

CD Guadalajara - FC Bayern 0-1 (H-T: 0-1)

CD Guadalajara	A. Rodriguez (Michel 71) - Pereira (Vidrio 46), Salcido, Araujo - Sanchez, Arce (Toledo 71), Castro (Enriquez 62), G. Rodriguez (Solis 62) - Bravo (Napoles 71), De Nigris (Fierro 62), Reyna
FC Bayern	Starke - Rafinha, Martínez, Alaba - Hojbjerg, Gaudino, Rode (Badstuber 53), Bernat - Pizarro (Shaqiri 57) - Lewandowski (Scholl 83), Ribéry (Contento 83)
Substitute	Zingerle, Lucic, Walter, T. Schweinsteiger, Oikonomou, Eberwein, Green, Sallahi
Referee	Juan Carlos Rivero
Viewers	25,073 (capacity)
Goals	0-1 Pizarro (10)
Yellow card	Pereira, Sanchez, Solis / Martínez