Martín Zubimendi isn’t tired of the constant comparisons to Xabi Alonso but he reckons Xabi Alonso might be. “He’s an idol, a role model, so I’m delighted that he says nice things about me,” the Real Sociedad midfielder says, smiling not blushing, the attempt to embarrass him with eulogies from his hero, the footballer he most admires, having failed. The words are welcome, on one side at least. “Thing is, I think it’s the other way round,” he says. “I get asked about him so much he must get bored of hearing me talk about him. He’ll be tired of me going on about how good he is.”
If the responses are inevitable, the questions are too. “Martín has the mark of Zubieta,” Alonso once said, and he knows. Zubieta is the R…