Xabi Alonso will discover why Anfield returns are second to none

On the eve of Alonso’s return, Telegraph Sport asks Liverpool legends to describe their own emotional Anfield reunions

It’s tempting to think Xabi Alonso has been contemplating what Anfield reception awaits for his emotional reunion since the Champions League draw. The reality is it has been on his mind for 15 years.
No sooner had Alonso left Liverpool for Real Madrid in the summer of 2009 he reminded the Kop that his oldest son, Jontxu, is a Scouser and teased the likelihood of a comeback.
“I have my red passion and if circumstances arrived then why not?” Alonso said shortly after his Bernabeu unveiling. “It could be a possibility. Never say never.”
The romantic scene of Alonso emerging from the players’ tunnel as the crowd chant his name has been long trailed. Even more so in the immediate aftermath of Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool resignation.
It finally happens on Tuesday night, the twist, of course, being that Alonso will accept the home applause as a VIP guest as Bayer Leverkusen’s head coach rather than Liverpool’s anointed one.
Early in last season’s recruitment process, a conversation between Liverpool’s new sporting director Richard Hughes and Alonso’s agent Iñaki Ibáñez (the pair had negotiated Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth appointment the previous summer) respectfully indicated the goalscoring hero of the 2005 Champions League win would not be discussing the rekindling of old flames. 
Talks never formally went beyond that initial polite enquiry, but the sense of what might have been and direct comparisons with Arne Slot are unavoidable.
The Dutchman was the only coach offered the Liverpool job after Klopp left, and Liverpool were so put out by Gary Neville’s claim on Sky Sports that Slot was ‘third choice’ behind Alonso and Ruben Amorim they briefly contemplated demanding a public retraction.
That will never erase the suspicion that the Kop job was Alonso’s had he so craved it. Alonso will not only follow the tradition of revered Liverpool legends forced to cast aside sentiment to plot their former club’s downfall, he will surely be asking himself if he sacrificed a potentially once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to manage the club.
Expecting such consequential figures to erase their past on such days is well nigh impossible with those on the receiving end later acknowledging the profound impact.
Sir Kenny Dalglish’s return to Anfield as Blackburn Rovers manager in December 1992 required one of the most extreme realignment of loyalties, the Kop still traumatised by his Liverpool resignation 22 months earlier. They began the afternoon singing Dalglish’s name and ended it hailing his replacement Graeme Souness after a 2-1 win.
“I said when I left that part of Liverpool would never leave me,” Dalglish said post-match.
Steven Gerrard was the last to experience something similar when leading Aston Villa to Anfield in 2021. “Of course there’ll be emotion because of where it’s at and my history but that’s the challenge, to try to control it as much as I can,” he said, aware that anything remotely flirtatious from him towards the home fans would incur the wrath of Villa’s.
Gerrard well remembered the response to his Villa predecessor Gerard Houllier upon his Anfield return in December 2010. The ex-Liverpool coach was visibly moved by the Kop chanting his name and unveiling a banner reading, “Gerard’s Heart Beats’. 
In the aftermath, a section of Villa fans churlishly suggested Houllier was distracted as his side lost 3-0. Given Houllier had nearly died on the same spot while managing Liverpool eight years earlier, he probably was, and he was still a father figure to Liverpool’s senior players.
“I would have wished Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher would be playing against us because I like them as men and as players,” Houllier remarked on the eve of the game, his enduring devotion obvious.
“Unfortunately, both of them will be absent. I wish Jamie the quickest recovery ever. I’m not the one who says ‘I’m happy they are not playing’ – I would have liked them to play against my team.”
Rafa Benitez was in the unique position of being so loved by the Kop, the Chelsea fans jeered every time his name was sung when he led the London club to Merseyside in April 2013. 
Like Houllier, Benitez was clearly impacted by the show of affection, close to tears during ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ during an especially poignant visit as Liverpool marked the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.
The standard pre-match response when a true legend reunites is to play it down. That was the José Mourinho playbook before he returned to Stamford Bridge as Manchester United’s manager in October 2016, brushing aside questions by quipping it was inevitable he would face his old club eventually.
His actions undermined such ambivalence when the home crowd showed their appreciation for him with Chelsea 4-0 up, and their ex-manager felt he was being humiliated by Antonio Conte choreographing the supporters.
“Behave like that at 1-0, not at 4-0,” Mourinho raged in a touchline spat with the Italian.
For others, such occasions have been more enjoyable regardless of the result. Tony Adams returned to Arsenal as Portsmouth’s caretaker manager in 2008, his name chanted incessantly before kick-off and during the game. He had no hesitation acknowledging the love.
Mark Hughes was similarly serenaded when leading Blackburn Rovers to Old Trafford in April 2005, despite a 0-0 draw effectively ending Sir Alex Ferguson’s title hopes.
If such enthusiasm is granted to a rare few managers on the opposite side, the same is true of players synonymous with the clubs they later try to defeat.
The most visually impressive Anfield reunion will always be that enjoyed by Ray Clemence in May,1982, a packed Kop applauding in joyous choreography and singing ‘England’s number one’ to the Tottenham goalkeeper as he tried to stop Bob Paisley winning the league title.
Ian Rush was denied the chance of playing against Liverpool at Anfield during his stints with Leeds United and Newcastle United, but he did so at Elland Road where the noisy away support kept singing his name.
“I was a substitute and every time I warmed up at Elland Road the Liverpool fans were all clapping,” Rush recalls. “I wasn’t having the best of times under George Graham and he put me on when we were 2-0 down and played me as a right midfielder!
“You are still wanting to win the game – it is the natural response of any player – but I remember thinking as I was near the end of my career the applause from the Liverpool fans reminded me of what the good times felt like.
“When you are in the middle of it competing and winning trophies, you don’t really think about what it will feel like years later. You are so focused on the next game you don’t get the chance. It is only when you are not there any more you realise what you had. It will be the same for Xabi on Tuesday, I’m sure.”
Robbie Fowler underwent the same epiphany after leaving Liverpool for Leeds and then later joining Manchester City. His first Anfield reunion match was in February 2004. “You are trying to treat it as any other game but deep down you know it is not,” says Fowler, who also played against Liverpool at Anfield for Cardiff City following his second stint at the club.
“You know what is coming – you don’t want to sound egotistical but you know that in some respects you are going to be a focal point. 
“I have to say I loved going back. I remember the fans were singing my name and it was a bit like Stevie [Gerrard] when he was with Villa. You are a bit sheepish about it because you are there to be a professional and to do a job for another club.”
It is not the first time Alonso has been back at Anfield. He played in some of the annual legends games, and also attended fixtures with his Liverpool-supporting son in the immediate aftermath of his retirement as a player.
“It is completely different when it is a competitive match, especially when you are trying to beat the team you love,” says Fowler.
“Professionalism takes over. I can’t speak for how Xabi feels but the first time I left I never had the chance to say goodbye properly. Nowadays, fans and managers get an unbelievable goodbye don’t they? 
“The final game of the season is like an award ceremony on the pitch. I was taken off at half-time versus Sunderland and a week later I was signing for Leeds. Behind the scenes it was building, but in the end it was all very quick.
“Having the chance to go back is special, and it was even more so for me when I rejoined the club in 2006. For all the goals I scored and medals won, that was one of the highlights of my career. I think the manner of how you leave is a big factor in how you are remembered when you return, as well as what you did for the club.”
That is certainly true in Alonso’s case. His £30 million sale precipitated the end of Benitez’s Liverpool era – his direct replacement Alberto Aquilani was never fit enough to play as the side that went close to winning the Premier League disintegrated – but the circumstances of his exit and impact never diminished Alonso’s Anfield reputation.
During his five-year stay, the playmaker’s legend was secure after the ‘Miracle of Istanbul’ Champions League final and he was perceived by supporters as collateral damage in the unedifying Anfield civil war which ultimately cost Benitez his job and eventually forced American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr to sell to Fenway Sports Group.
‘Lived it. Loved it.’ 🔴 Liverpool legend Xabi Alonso played the game beautifully 😍@XabiAlonso | @LFC | #UCL pic.twitter.com/h4H3lPZ25y
Amid the financial challenges, the manager had considered selling Alonso to Juventus for £16 million a year earlier, hoping to sign Gareth Barry and still returning a profit. Arsenal were keen to sign him that summer, too. The Kop protested, singing Alonso’s name during a pre-season friendly against Lazio in the summer of 2008. 
Emboldened, Alonso stood firm, so by the time he joined Real there was more gratitude he had remained another year and moved for a fee more reflective of his talent. 
No-one blamed him, cherishing the guile and class on and off the field of a midfield maestro who won hearts with his first, instant beautifully accurate diagonal ball on his Anfield debut against Norwich City in September 2004.
“I understand it if some Liverpool fans find it difficult to understand why I left and I would have preferred the move to have gone through smoother than it did, but I mean it when I say the club remains in my heart,” Alonso said in a farewell address.
“I’m certain I will play in front of The Kop again some day. I hope that’s the case because playing for that club meant so much to me.”
Liverpool were never good enough to lure Alonso the player back before his retirement, and the hope now is the Slot era will be so successful that the ship has sailed on the likelihood of him ever becoming manager, too. The expectation is Alonso is being primed as Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid successor.
Whatever the future holds, it is unlikely to be another 15 years before Alonso and Liverpool meet for another demonstration of their mutual affection.
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