Mikel Arteta and Xabi Alonso meet in the London derby tonight, a rivalry that did not begin on the managers' benches but dates back to a childhood friendship spanning decades, as they grew up on the same street in the city of San Sebastián.
The friendship between Mikel Arteta and Xabi Alonso
According to "The Telegraph," the first title in the career of Xabi Alonso, the current Chelsea manager, bore the imprint of his friend Mikel Arteta, the current Arsenal manager.
At around the age of eleven, the duo reached a cup final with Antiguoko, the youth team they belonged to. The match ended in a penalty shootout; Alonso, feeling nervous, missed his kick, before his close friend Arteta saved him by scoring the winning penalty minutes later.
Arteta previously described his relationship with Alonso as "deeper than just friendship," a bond that began with skateboards and sand when they used to go to the beach daily to play tennis and football, continuing even after they entered the professional world.
When Alonso was playing for Liverpool and Arteta was wearing an Everton shirt, the two players owned apartments on the fourth floor of the same building in the Albert Dock area, maintaining their friendship despite belonging to opposite poles of Merseyside.
Alonso once said about Arteta and their shared childhood: "Perhaps this kid was crazier about football than me. He was only a few months younger than me and my friends. But you know, we always push our younger friends at that age, right? Well, we tried, but he was a competitive monster."
Both Arteta and Alonso realized at the time that the city's fans would not warmly welcome the friendship of two players representing rival teams both on and off the pitch. In 2005, Arteta said: "I don't think people like seeing a player from Everton and one from Liverpool together too much."
The upbringing of Alonso and Arteta
Alonso was born into a family linked to football; he is the son of Periko Alonso, a former Real Sociedad and Spain midfielder. Meanwhile, Arteta's father was a bank manager, and his mother worked as a university lecturer.
Both hail from the same street in the Antiguo neighborhood, the oldest part of the city. Arteta believes the history of the place has left a profound impact on its residents. San Sebastián has a long history of brutal wars, which Arteta sees as having contributed to shaping the character of its people.
He said: "We have thick skin; we have been through a lot. This is what strengthened us and made us different. Not necessarily better, but different in a way. We utilized that upbringing and those values to be arguably more prepared when facing difficult moments and challenges, and to dive into them with full force."
Arteta was the better player of the two during their teenage years, which led him to leave San Sebastián and join Barcelona's La Masia academy at the age of fifteen, though Alonso later surpassed him.
Alonso earned 114 caps for the Spanish national team, won three major international tournaments, and lifted the Champions League trophy with both Liverpool and Real Madrid.
On the other hand, Arteta never got the chance to represent the Spanish national team; he even considered representing the England national team at one point.
Both Alonso and Arteta have succeeded in winning league titles; Arteta won the English Premier League, while Alonso led Bayer Leverkusen to win the German Bundesliga. Alonso was dismissed from his position at Real Madrid last season to take over as Chelsea's manager.
