Clubs: Real Sociedad de Fútbol, SD Eibar (loan), Liverpool FC, Real Madrid CF

UEFA honours
UEFA European Championship: winner 2008
UEFA Champions League: winner 2005, runner-up 2007
UEFA Super Cup: winner 2005

• The son of Spanish international midfielder Periko Alonso, a member of the Sociedad side that won back-to-back titles in 1981 and 1982, Xabi had a loan spell in the second division with Eibar before making his mark in the top flight.

• Came to the fore in 2002/03 when Sociedad ran Madrid close for the title; provided countless assists for the prolific strike duo of Nihat Kahveci and Darko Kovačević and was rewarded with his first Spain cap.

• Joined Liverpool in 2004 and won the UEFA Champions League final in Istanbul at the end of his first season, equalising against AC Milan to make it 3-3 before the Reds won on penalties; an FA Cup winner in 2006, he was a UEFA Champions League finalist again in 2007.

• Appeared for Spain at UEFA EURO 2004 and was first choice at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where he scored his first international goal, uncharacteristically with his head, in a 4-0 defeat of Ukraine.

• Made four appearances at UEFA EURO 2008 as Spain became European champions, before featuring prominently under Vicente del Bosque in 2010 World Cup qualifying and the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.

• Ended a five-year stay at Anfield with a big-money move to Madrid ahead of the 2009/10 season, at the end of which he started every game in Spain's triumphant World Cup campaign in South Africa.