Peter Crouch thought he was 'in' with Xabi Alonso's partner before getting with Abbey Clancy
Xabi Alonso and wife Nagore Aranburu
Xabi Alonso has been married to Nagore Aranburu since 2008. The couple have three children
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Peter Crouch has admitted to chatting up Xabi Alonso's wife after being stitched up by Jamie Carragher. At the start of his spell at Liverpool in 2005, the striker was living out of a hotel.
A year before meeting his wife, the model Abbey Clancy, in a Liverpool bar, Crouch was free, single and ready to mingle when a Spanish receptionist caught his eye. He was so taken with the hotel worker that he couldn't wait to tell his new team-mates about her.
There was just one problem - the girl in question was already taken by none other than his new teammate, Alonso. His colleagues were aware of the situation but declined to tell Crouch, who foolishly confided in Carragher about the girl.
Speaking during an appearance on the Stick to Football show with Gary Neville, Roy Keane and Ian Wright, Crouch recalled: "I'm in the hotel, and there's a lovely-looking Spanish girl on reception.
"She's smiling all the time, being really nice. I'm thinking, 'I'm in here.' I thought, 'It must be me, it must be my vibe,'" he joked.
Reality eventually hit home in embarrassing fashion. He added: "But she's only there to learn English, she's Xabi's missus. I'd only been there a week.
Peter Crouch
Crouch has recalled the amusing incident(Image: The Overlap/YouTube)
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"It's Carra [who stitched me up]. I'm telling him about this Spanish girl, and he knows full well which one it is. So he gathers all the lads around, including Xabi, and says, 'Crouchy's got a story.'
"And I've explained it again, and they've all burst out laughing." Thankfully, Alonso saw the funny side as well, with Crouch laughing: "He was as good as gold, he knew I had no chance!"
Peter Crouch and Xabi Alonso
There were no hard feelings between the teammates(Image: Justin Goff Photos/Getty Images)
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Crouch spent three memorable years at Liverpool before leaving for Portsmouth in 2008 in a bid to secure regular first-team football, which he had struggled to get under Rafael Benitez amid competition from Fernando Torres.
Benitez was reluctant to let Crouch go and originally held out for £15million before eventually settling for a fee of £11m. Spells at Tottenham and Stoke City followed before he retired in 2019 and went on to forge a successful career as a media personality and pundit.
Meanwhile, Alonso was recently appointed Chelsea head coach following his short-lived spell as Real Madrid boss. Some fans had wanted the Reds to appoint Alonso before Andoni Iraola's arrival.
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