Alonso out to Give France Deja Vu
Having sunk France with both goals in Spain's 2-0 quarterfinal victory at Euro 2012, Xabi Alonso will have Les Bleus in his sights once again when the teams renew acquaintances in Tuesday's World Cup qualifier.
The 30-year-old midfielder scored with a header from a Jordi Alba cross and a penalty to send France packing in Donetsk, and although he has not found the net since, his reputation does not rest on his talents as a goalscorer.
Spain's coach Vicente del Bosque says Alonso is "not just a ball-winner, but a player capable of going forward," and it is in his role as a deep-lying organizer of play that he has become central to the way his country play football.
Be it short passes or long passes, passes to feet or passes into space, the elegant former Liverpool player has an endless supply of weapons in his armory.
Often the launching pad for Real Madrid's attacks when the ball has just been recovered, he, along with Cristiano Ronaldo, is the player that Madrid's La Liga rivals seek to shut down first when they confront the Spanish champions.
It is therefore no surprise that Alonso is the third most-used player under Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, after goalkeeper Iker Casillas and Ronaldo.
Aside from the first 57 minutes in last month's 5-1 win against Deportivo La Coruna, the midfielder -- a first-choice player for Madrid since 2009 -- has not missed a single second of his team's season.
The Basque is an equally central component in the national side, where only Casillas, Xavi and former goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta have bettered his record of 105 caps.
With Spain, Alonso is typically aligned alongside Sergio Busquets, his direct counterpart at Barcelona.
The pairing has attracted criticism from observers who believe the two players are too similar to play next to each other, but on Tuesday that will not be an issue.
With center-backs Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol both injured, Busquets is likely to be deployed in central defense alongside Madrid's Sergio Ramos, as he was in Friday's comfortable 4-0 success in Belarus.
Against France, Alonso will therefore share playmaking responsibilities with the metronomic Xavi, the true conductor of the Spanish orchestra.
While the Barcelona man seeks to pick holes in opposition defenses with short passes along the ground, Alonso is charged with winning back possession and springing Spain into attack with his raking passes from deep positions.
One man gunning for Alonso at Vicente Calderon will be France's Yohan Cabaye, who failed to lay a glove on the Madrid man when they last faced off against each other in Ukraine.
To do that, the Newcastle United player and his teammates will have to press high up the pitch and hope that Spain's two X-Men -- Xavi and Xabi Alonso -- can for once be hustled out of their stride.