Ring of Fire by Simon Hughes

Author:Simon Hughes
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473540286
Publisher: Transworld

CHAPTER SEVEN

XABI ALONSO,

Maestro

IT IS WINTERTIME and snow gently begins to fall on Säbener Strasse, the affluent tree-lined residential boulevard that runs south from Munich’s centre. On one side, the low-rise chalet homes of middle-class families sit quietly, as elegantly dressed men stroll by during their morning walks accompanied by their elegantly dressed partners. Over the road is the training complex of the city’s most famous football club. Above a glass-plated front of clinical German design, a sign reads with awesome confidence: ‘FC Bayern’.

Space is used sensibly here. I wait at one entrance sponsored by Audi, which leads underneath the training pitches and into an intensely lit car park. At 9.30 a.m. on the dot, the automobiles of that particular manufacturer begin to arrive, their engines smoothly purring. Each Bayern player gets issued with the same car when he signs and while on club duties the player is contractually expected to be seen driving it.

The companies Bayern work with are obvious, because the logos of Adidas, T-Mobile and, indeed, Audi are plastered everywhere. Bayern thrives because of these alliances but also because of success on the pitch. The smell of freshly cut grass slices through the freezing air, reminding me that Bayern exists because it is a football club first.

‘I’m over here, mate,’ Xabi Alonso calls, poking his head out from behind the wall of an alternative access point, the use of the word ‘mate’ a reminder that five years living on Merseyside can have a long-lasting influence on a foreign player’s vocabulary.

The training session on this specific Thursday does not start for another hour and a half, yet a group of workmen in their luminous jackets are waiting expectantly at the highest point above the facility. Alonso is already in full training kit, his flip-flops belying the weather. It is easy to believe that at Bayern, while Pep Guardiola is manager before his next move to Manchester City, most things begin on time, that the Bayern machine waits for no person.

‘You’d be surprised, not always,’ Alonso informs me, stroking his gingery-bearded face as we pass the pitch-side cameras of the club’s in-house television station. I realize he is joking when he clarifies his comment. ‘On one occasion we started five minutes late,’ he says, delivering it deadpan. ‘You have heard of mañana haven’t you? Not in Germany they haven’t.’

The Säbener Strasse site offers Bayern’s entire roster of teams, from the Bundesliga seniors down to the under-8s, elite training and playing conditions. The stars of today and tomorrow hone their skills on five grass bowling-green standard pitches, two of which boast undersoil heating. Across eighty thousand square metres there are two third-generation artificial turf pitches, a beach volleyball court, a multi-purpose sports hall, a service centre for supporters, a performance centre for players, a head office for directors and a youth academy apartment block that accommodates up to fourteen players aged from fifteen to eighteen whose home towns are too far away from Munich for the daily commute to training. There are also Bavarian beer cabins for the fans on the days they are invited in to watch.

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