Madrid: Sports daily Marca has reported that Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso has retired from international football after Spain's elimination from the FIFA World Cup.


Xabi Alonso. Pic/AFP 

Marca says the 32-year-old planned this move for some time and the decision was not a "knee-jerk reaction to the event in Brazil. Far from it, he had long known that summer 2014 would mark the end of his international career", reports EFE.