Marcos Alonso

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Position: Left-back

Premier League – 2017/2018

Date: 05.08.2018

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Personal life

Marcos Alonso Mendoza (born 28 December 1990) is a Spanish footballer who plays as a left back or a wing back for Premier League club Chelsea and the Spain national team. Alonso started his career with Real Madrid, but went on to make his name with Bolton Wanderers in England and later with Fiorentina in Italy. His success at the latter club led Chelsea to sign him for an estimated £24 million in 2016. He made his full debut for Spain in March 2018. Alonso’s grandfather, Marcos Alonso Imaz, played eight years with Real Madrid’s first team. His father, Marcos Alonso Peña, played several seasons in Spain’s top flight, most notably for Atlético Madrid and FC Barcelona, and both represented Spain at senior level. On 2 May 2011, Alonso was arrested following his involvement in a car accident in Madrid. He was the driver of a car that collided with a wall, killing one of the passengers, a 19-year-old woman, having been driving at 112.8 km/h (70 mph) in wet conditions in a 50 km/h (30 mph) zone, with a blood alcohol level of 0.93 mg per millilitre of blood. He faced 21 months in prison when sentenced in February 2016, but his punishment was changed to a €61,000 fine and a driving ban of three years and four months, which had already been spent.

Club career

Real Madrid
Born in Madrid, Alonso joined Real Madrid’s youth academy as a child, going on to represent every youth side in the following years. In 2008, Alonso reached Real Madrid Castilla which competed in Segunda División B, and first appeared for the reserve team on 22 February 2008, playing the entire match in a 0–1 home loss against AD Alcorcón. On 11 December 2009, he was first summoned by the main squad – coached by Manuel Pellegrini – for a La Liga match at Valencia. Eventually, Alonso did not make the final list of 18, and his debut arrived on 4 April of the following year as he came on as a substitute for Gonzalo Higuaín in the 90th minute of a 2–0 win away to Racing de Santander.

Bolton Wanderers
He joined Bolton Wanderers of the Premier League for an undisclosed fee, on 27 July 2010. Alonso made his competitive debut for the club in a League Cup 1–0 away win against Southampton on 24 August; his first league appearance arrived on 1 January 2011, starting for suspended Paul Robinson in a 1–2 away loss to Liverpool at Anfield. Alonso scored his first goal for Bolton on 31 March 2012, netting the second in an eventual 3–2 success away to Wolverhampton Wanderers. At the end of the 2012–13 season, he was voted The Bolton News’ player of the year, winning 37% of the vote: Marc Iles wrote, “…this has been a break-out season for the former Real Madrid starlet. Alonso has grown in stature and become a consistent performer at full-back – chipping in with some important goals too.”

Fiorentina
Alonso playing for Fiorentina in 2015. In May 2013, Alonso signed for Italian side ACF Fiorentina on a 3-year deal, despite being offered a new contract by Bolton manager Dougie Freedman. On 30 December, after the player had made nine official appearances, Sunderland boss Gus Poyet announced that he would join on 1 January 2014, on loan until the end of the campaign. He played his first match with Sunderland on 8 January 2014, featuring the full 90 minutes in a 2–1 home win over Manchester United for the League Cup semi-final first leg and being given the man of the match award by Sky Sports. Alonso appeared in the final of the competition on 2 March, not being able to prevent a 3–1 loss against Manchester City; overall he contributed with 20 appearances all competitions comprised, helping his team retain their top flight status. Upon his return from loan, Alonso became a regular, amassing over 70 appearances in his final two seasons in purple. On 19 March 2015 he scored his first goal for the Viola, in a 3–0 win away to fellow Italians A.S. Roma for the round of 16 of the UEFA Europa League.

Chelsea
On 30 August 2016, after 85 appearances and five goals overall with Fiorentina, he completed his move back to England after signing a 5-year contract with Chelsea worth around £24 million. He made his debut on 20 September, playing the full 120 minutes in a 4–2 win away to Leicester City for the EFL Cup, and four days later he first appeared in the league in a 0–3 away defeat to Arsenal, coming off the bench for Cesc Fàbregas in the 55th minute. Alonso scored his first goal for the club on 5 November 2016, in a 5–0 defeat of Everton at Stamford Bridge. He added two more at the King Power Stadium, in a 3–0 win against Leicester on 14 January 2017. In April 2018, Alonso came under extensive criticism for seemingly purposely digging his trainer studs into Shane Long’s leg during a tackle in a league game against Southampton. He was not reprimanded in any way by referee Mike Dean – who came under similar criticism – but was later charged with violent conduct by The Football Association, and later issued a three-match ban.

International career

On 16 March 2018, Alonso received his first call-up for the Spanish national team for friendlies against Germany and Argentina later that month. Alonso debuted against the latter on the 27th in a 6–1 win at the Wanda Metropolitano where he replaced Jordi Alba with 11 minutes left, making the Alonsos the first Spanish family to have three generations of internationals and seventh worldwide.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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