Xabi Alonso on healing from his Real Madrid exit, his gut feeling to join Chelsea and why he sees his new club as an exciting opportunity.

Watching Xabi Alonso coach his Chelsea team conjures flashbacks of his playing days at Liverpool and Real Madrid. The 44-year-old, who won the World Cup with Spain in 2010, is fully involved in training sessions, teeing up players with accurate short passes before hitting his trademark cross-field balls at Sky Park, the home of Sydney FC. It has impressed his players in Australia on their pre-season tour, with outstanding ball-playing centre-back Levi Colwill admitting he feels "jealous". In a hotel in Sydney's Darling Harbour, Alonso detailed the long path to Chelsea through his father, Periko Alonso, a fellow Spain international and former Real Sociedad and Barcelona player. As a child, Xabi would stand next to Periko in the kitchen as he prepared his training sessions for the next day. Perhaps it was inevitable he would follow in his footsteps. "I'm not saying it was meant to be, but I had to try it. I wanted to try it, but not straight to the top level. I started in the under-14s and that was the way I wanted. It felt natural, not to rush." It's typical of Alonso, whose style of play was characterised by slowing the game down. Alonso took his time coaching in youth football, but it soon felt - much like in his playing career - as though he could only achieve success.