Del Bosque hails match-winner Xabi

Published on 24/06/2012 00:35

Vicente Del Bosque hailed the performance of Xabi Alonso after the midfielder marked his 100th appearance for Spain with both goals in their quarter-final victory over France.

“He is a very good team player,” said the Spain coach. “He knows how to sacrifice himself, how to help and where, in midfield and on the sides. He is one of the attacking strengths we have, he knows how to create the game and how to finish. He’s one of the complete midfielders we have, but I don’t really want to talk about particular players. We can’t do that, this was the work of a team.”

His first goal was a rare header – so rare Xabi Alonso couldn’t even remember his last headed goal, suggesting it might have been in his Real Sociedad days. He broke from midfield to meet a sumptuous cross from Jordi Alba, the overlapping left-back. “Sometimes you have to break the line,” he explained. “Jordi did it very well, created the space. I was lucky, everything was clear, I could make eye contact with him. We’d spoken about it. We knew we had to go from midfield forward.”

Del Bosque had spoken of the lack of penetration from deep in previous games and, while that was more evident, Alonso suggested it was more to do with their opponents than Spain. “The players have their own characteristics,” he said. “The system of play, the idea of the game doesn’t really change. It also depends what rival we are facing. The last match with Croatia was difficult because of the opponent. Opponents know us and that complicates the objective, we know Portugal very well, they know us very well and it’ll be a tough match. Only one step to the final from there.”