Spanish World Cup winner and double European champion Xabi Alonso is set to retire at the end of the season when his Bayern Munich contract expires, a report said.  Leaders Bayern kick off the second half of the Bundesliga season at Freiburg tomorrow in their bid for a fifth straight German league title with the 35-year-old Alonso poised to end his playing career in June.
It would mean the German giants could lose significant experience for next season with club captain and ex-Germany skipper Philipp Lahm also reportedly considering retiring in June to take over as Bayern’s team manager. According to German magazine Sport Bild, Alonso has already told club bosses he does not want to sign a contract extension. Having joined Bayern for the 2014/15 season, Alonso is bidding to finish with a third straight German league title with Munich currently three points clear in the table.
Alonso has won 16 titles for clubs and country, including the 2010 World Cup and the 2008 and 2012 European championships with Spain, making 114 international appearances. He retired from international duty in August 2014. He has won the Champions league twice with two different clubs.
He started out at Real Sociedad and joined Liverpool in 2004 after being named Spanish player of the year in 2003. He was part of the Liverpool side which famously won the 2005 Champions League title in a penalty shoot-out, coming back from 3-0 down against AC Milan in Istanbul. After five years and 143 English Premier League appearances with Liverpool, Alonso joined Real Madrid in 2009. He again won the Champions League in 2014 when current Bayern coach Carlo Ancelotti steered Real to a 4-1 win over Atletico Madrid before Alonso transferred to Germany for the 2014/15 season.

Me retire? Not so fast,
says van Gaal
Louis van Gaal says he is not definitely done with football just yet, after appearing to suggest earlier this week that he was retiring from the game at 65. The Dutchman, who was sacked by Manchester United last year after an uninspiring stint at Old Trafford, had told popular daily tabloid De Telegraaf: “I don’t believe I’ll return to work.”
But less than a day later van Gaal rowed back on that, telling Spanish radio overnight Tuesday-Wednesday that nothing was final and his future “depends on offers” at the end of what he has called a sabbatical.
“I am not retiring,” van Gaal, whose decorated coaching career included two spells at Barcelona and with the Dutch national side, told Cadena Ser radio. “I took a sabbatical year and then maybe I will decide whether or not to retire. There is a strong possibility that I will retire, but it’s not final.”
Van Gaal revealed that he had received an offer from La Liga crisis club Valencia. “It was about a month ago, but I said no. Next year, it might have been different. That depends on how I feel.”
Clarifying his comments published in Tuesday’s De Telegraaf, van Gaal — who says he has received dozens of lucrative offers since his United departure last May — added: “I only said that perhaps I was going to retire.
But I don’t know, it’s still not the moment to say. “That’s why I took a sabbatical for a year, and then I would decide. It depends also on what offers I get.”