Ex-Real Madrid star keen to give back to Hong Kong after a career of highs and self-doubt

Like a lot of Real Sociedad supporters, Asier Illarramendi focused on enjoying himself in the week after the club beat Celta Vigo 2-0 in June 2010 to win promotion back to La Liga with one game to spare.
Unlike any of his fellow revellers, however, the 20-year-old Illarramendi was handed his senior debut in that last dead-rubber match, a 4-1 defeat at Elche.
“It was a little bit weird; we’d won the league and during that week we celebrated a lot, and didn’t train much,” Illarramendi told the South China Morning Post.
“After around 65 minutes, I was done, I couldn’t play any more. Too much celebrating.”
Recently crowned Hong Kong Footballer of the Year, Kitchee midfielder Illarramendi, now 36, would recover from his excess to play more than 250 matches for Sociedad, either side of a two-year spell with Real Madrid.

There, the high of sharing a Champions League success with Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and boyhood hero Xabi Alonso in 2014 was followed by a campaign in which he experienced an undermining loss of self-belief.
“When you’re younger, you don’t know a lot about yourself,” Illarramendi said. “I played less than in the first year [26 of his 41 appearances came from the bench], I didn’t know why, and I started losing confidence in myself.
“It was the first time I felt that way, and I couldn’t manage it very well. I suffered a little bit. I knew what I was capable of, but I couldn’t do it.
“We had one professional on the staff who helped me, but now there are lots of specialists in that area. For me, it’s more important to prepare psychologically than physically.”
In an ultimately successful quest to recover his confidence and “have people view me as an important player”, Illarramendi returned to Real Sociedad, the club he first joined at 12.

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In the player’s small Basque hometown of Mutriku, it was mandatory to pursue more than one sport.
“I was good at handball, but when I signed for Real Sociedad I chose only football,” he said. “I think it was the right decision.”
Illarramendi’s father had been a good footballer but, appreciating he was not going to make the grade, became a fisherman at 16 and drifted out of the sport.
His son originally did not think he had the capacity to turn professional either, but that did not stop him travelling one hour to San Sebastian, via bus and taxi, after school every day to train with the club that “will be in my heart until I die”.
“I left school at 4.30pm and arrived home at 10pm,” Illarramendi said. “On the way, I’d have to study. It wasn’t easy, but I was playing for Real Sociedad, so it was a dream.”
Modelling elements of his game on first-team mainstays Alonso and Mikel Aranburu, the midfield pair he closely studied when watching matches at Sociedad’s Anoeta Stadium home, Illarramendi was heavily influenced by second-team coach Imanol Idiakez.
“I started playing for him at 17, and it was the most important year for me to learn about football concepts,” Illarramendi said.
“That was when I began thinking that maybe I could reach the first team. I started training harder and believing my dream could become reality.”
Additionally motivated to avoid following a career path similar to his dad’s, Illarramendi made his La Liga debut in January 2011. He started to establish himself the following season, then in 2012-13 was a linchpin of the Sociedad side that finished fourth to gain Champions League qualification.

“It wasn’t easy at the beginning of my career to manage the pressure, but you have to or you won’t show your level,” he said.
During a dizzying summer of 2013, Illarramendi starred for Spain’s Uefa European Under-21 Championship-winning team, then became the object of a £34 million (around US$45.5 million) bid from Real Madrid.
“When my agents told me Madrid wanted to sign me, I didn’t believe it – I was shocked,” Illarramendi said.
“I’d never thought of playing for another club. It wasn’t an easy decision; on one hand, it was my team, on the other, it was the best side in the world.”
There is an iconic image from Illarramendi’s Bernabeu Stadium unveiling of the player, and 31 friends and family members sharing the moment in an executive box.
“I went to the beach where they were all hanging out and told them the presentation would be the next day,” Illarramendi said. “They all wanted to be there, so I arranged a bus for them.
“Florentino [Perez, club president] asked if they were my friends, then invited them all to watch from a box.”
At 23, after two seasons in La Liga, Illarramendi walked into a dressing room that featured Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, Gareth Bale, Iker Casillas, Modric and Alonso.
“Sometimes, we think these people are different, but they’re normal,” Illarramendi said. “They always tried to help young players.
“It was a bit unreal playing with Xabi [Alonso] after all those weekends supporting him, but it was a good time to learn from him. You have to fight for your minutes, but in two years I played 90 games.”
In his first season after joining, Illarramendi featured in 11 Champions League matches as Real Madrid ended their 12-year wait to capture “La Decima”: a prized 10th European crown.

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“Sergio Ramos told me I was very lucky because a lot of players had been waiting so long, then I came and won La Decima in my first year,” said Illarramendi, who considers his boss in Madrid, the current Brazil head coach, Carlo Ancelotti, the best in the business at “bringing together different people from different cultures and creating a team”.
“When you have the best players in the world, the most important thing is to manage them as people and he’s like a father to everyone,” Illarramendi said.
Following those second-season issues, Illarramendi was taken back to Sociedad by then-boss David Moyes. The Scot, currently in charge of Everton, lost his job after a poor opening three months of the campaign.
“We didn’t have any real style of play,” Illarramendi said. “He didn’t speak Spanish, so for many of us it was difficult to understand him, which could be one reason we didn’t play well.”
Proud that he had “been part of helping Sociedad grow up”, Illarramendi ended his second spell with the club after eight largely prosperous years, after which he joined FC Dallas to “live another experience, in another country with a different culture”.
“The best football is in England and Spain, but there were other things in my thinking,” he said.
“I was only focusing on MLS … and I wanted to learn English.
“My wife and I are from a town of 5,000 people, and we were looking for something new. We easily adapted.”
Now fluent in English after arriving in the United States without a word, Illarramendi began to realise during 14 months Stateside that “I had good knowledge and a lot of ideas about football”, igniting ambitions of following fellow Basques Alonso, Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery and Andoni Iraola into management.
“We have lots of good teachers in the Basque region,” said Illarramendi, who plans to play for “as long as I’m fit and enjoying it”.

“I learned a lot as an academy player, so now I have some responsibility to help the Kitchee youngsters, which I like. Maybe, yes, I will try to become a manager.”
For an 11-month period between leaving Dallas and joining Kitchee in September last year, Illarramendi was out of work.
“It was difficult because you always want to play, and it’s frustrating training by yourself,” said Illarramendi, who employed a personal fitness trainer during his hiatus.
“I had some teams in Spain interested but I felt my time there was over.”
Unable to “sit still and watch television”, Illarramendi did not consider quitting.
“I’m physically good,” he said. “I wanted to play in Asia or Australia, and I talked to other clubs.
“I didn’t know much about Kitchee, but when I spoke to Inigo [Calderon, head coach] about the project and the club’s goals, I liked them. It felt like the best decision to come here, and I was right.”
Although he acknowledged the “style of football and pitches” are different from what he encountered in Europe, Illarramendi wants football chiefs in the city to try to improve domestic attendances.
“I’ve twice been to Hong Kong games and the stadium was full,” he said.
“We have to do something to attract more people [to club matches]. There are good players here, and we have to fight in every game. The fans we have are very loyal, always supporting the team whether we win or lose, and we are grateful for them.”
Illarramendi earned all three of his senior Spain caps in 2017, scoring once in a 1-0 World Cup qualifying victory in Israel.
Competing for a place with the likes of Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and David Silva, he was muscled out of the squad for the following year’s finals.

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“We had so many good players, so to get in was never easy,” Illarramendi said. “It was just a pleasure when I had the chance to be there with them.
“It’s true that we always want more but I’m very proud of everything I’ve achieved in my career, and of how I’ve enjoyed it.”
Illarramendi claimed that winning the local league with Kitchee “was not easy”, but that was unfailingly how he had made it look every time he elegantly patrolled in front of his team’s backline, cutting off opposing strikers’ supply lines, and seeing and executing passes that set him apart from his peers.
Deservedly voted the city’s player of the year, Illarramendi dissolved into tears as he accepted the honour, explaining the debt he owed to his wife Leire for her selfless role in his career.
The couple will stay in Hong Kong at least another year after Illarramendi renewed his Kitchee deal to allow him to play in next season’s AFC Champions League Two.

“Hong Kong has lots of places to discover and we’ve enjoyed everything here,” Illarramendi said.
“We live in Kai Tak, it’s easy to walk around, the people are friendly and there are no cars.
“My wife is happy, which is most important, and Kitchee are pleased with my performance. I prefer to go year-to-year, and I’m excited about next season.
“The Asian competition will demand more of us, but I trust in this team and in my teammates. I think we can do something beautiful.”