Xabi Alonso made two huge announcements over the last few days, but only one of them was unexpected.

The Basque midfielder announced that he would not only quit his international duties, but would also be leaving his current club Real Madrid to try his fortunes with Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich.

Alonso leaves Spain's capital on a tremendous high. He is coming off a Champions League win, two Copa del Rey trophies and a Spanish League win. But he also leaves a huge hole in the team's midfield. A hole that may be completely irreplaceable.

A year ago, coach Carlo Ancelotti was struggling to find a balanced midfield mix for his team. The club was simply not able to find a means of producing offensively while also keeping the team stable on the backend. During those first few months, the team was without a certain Spanish midfield -- Xabi Alonso. The Basque star had been nursing an injury for months, one that had kept him out of the Confederations Cup with Spain and had hurt the national side tremendously in its campaign.

So when Alonso finally arrived on Oct. 30, 2013 in a match against Sevilla the team naturally erupted with a 7-3 win. And then Madrid went on an unbeaten run that lasted for months. It was not a coincidence. Shortly after his return, Alonso made up an unbeatable midfield trio alongside Luka Modric and Angel Di Maria. While Di Maria created havoc with his relentless energy on both sides of the ball and Modric's passing unsettled opposing defenses, Alonso was a tremendous defender and long range passer.

Of these two major attributes it is the former that will be sorely missed in 2014-15. A midfield consisting of James Rodriguez, Toni Kroos, Modric, Sami Khedira, Asier Illarramendi and Isco is undoubtedly wondrous. But none of those players have the defensive proficiency of Alonso.

According to Who Scored, Alonso averaged 1.5 interceptions in the Spanish League per game last season. Modric came close with 1.4 but no other player on the team was anywhere near those numbers. For comparison Khedira averaged 1 interception per game, Kroos had 0.6 for Bayern Munich, Isco had 0.6 and Rodriguez had 0.7.

Illarramendi also came close with 1.3 interceptions game, while Modric's performance was admirable last year, his career number with 1.9 interceptions per game. Alonso's career mark is 2.4. Illarramendi has a higher career mark (2.6) than Alonso, but he is significantly younger and his numbers are skewed by one extraordinary year. In 2011-12 he had an average of 5.2 interceptions per game. But the following year, his number dropped to a solid 2.3 interceptions per game.

Alonso was also the leader in tackles among the team's current crop of midfielders. He averaged 2.4 in the Spanish League in 2013-14 and three in the Champions League. Modric had an average of 2.1 in the league games while Illarramendi averaged 2.2. However, no other player came close to two tackles per game.

Finally Alonso was also terrific with clearances and averaged 1.3 per game. Khedira averaged one per game but he only played 13 games for the team in 2013-14. No other current midfielder on the team came close to an average of one per game. Illarramendi only average 0.4 per game while Modric had 0.4.

With these defensive attributes, Alonso was almost a fifth defender on the pitch for Madrid and he was tremendous at helping his side recover possession in the midfield and relaunch its attack.

Kroos and Illarramendi are expected to be apt replacements and are expected to fulfill this same function, but neither is as complete a player as Alonso.

While Illarramendi's defensive attributes suggest that he could be a solid replacement on the defensive side of the ball, his passing is nowhere near as diverse as Alonso's. Both players managed to complete 89 percent of their passes, but Illarramendi has never been a long ball passer the way that Alonso was. The Basque star averaged 6.6 accurate long balls per game in 2013-14. Illarramendi only averaged 3.3.

Kroos is just as great a passer as Alonso (if not better) and averaged 8.6 long balls per game for Bayern Munich in 2013-14. However, his defensive abilities are nowhere near Alonso's and that might create imbalance for the team when defending.

Madrid undoubtedly has tremendous depth in the midfield but there is currently no player as complete as Alonso. He will truly be missed and his absence could create a tremendous imbalance for the team.

How much do you think Real Madrid will miss Alonso and all of this?:

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