There’s no use beating around the bush: it has been a horrific campaign for Real Madrid. One season after winning the UEFA Champions League and LaLiga title, Los Blancos failed to claim any major trophies after losing out to Barcelona in the title race and the Copa del Rey final, and suffering a humiliating defeat to Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-finals. However, club president Florentino Perez and the rest of the front office have been hard at work to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself in 2025/26. They’ve added two of the highest-rated defenders in the Premier League to their squad in Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen, whilst they have also been linked with a move for Benfica left-back Alvaro Carreras. However, Real’s best signing so far hasn’t been a player, but a manager: Xabi Alonso.
Today, we’re taking a look at three reasons why Alonso is the perfect coaching hire for Real Madrid.
When Real Madrid signed Kylian Mbappe on a free transfer just two days after securing their 15th UEFA Champions League title, it seemed that nothing was stopping them from going on a tear and racking up even more silverware under Carlo Ancelotti. The French attacker had already established himself as one of the best players on the planet by winning the 2018 World Cup, claiming the Ligue 1 golden boot in six consecutive seasons, and emerging as PSG’s all-time leading scorer with 256 goals in 308 appearances. Surely, Real were going to be too hot to handle?
Not so fast. Los Blancos ended up scoring nine fewer league goals – 24 fewer than Barcelona – and whilst Mbappe enjoyed another scintillating campaign and claimed the LaLiga golden boot with 31 goals, Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior took a step back in their attacking production. Ancelotti struggled to cope with the fact that all of his forwards preferred to hug the left flank and failed to get the most out of his star-studded attacking arsenal, and it ended up costing him his job. However, if there’s anyone who knows how to maximise his options in the final third, it’s Alonso.
After coaching Real Sociedad B for three years, Alonso’s first-ever managerial job at the top level would come in October 2022, with Leverkusen finding themselves saddled in an early relegation battle. He managed to turn things around and lead them to an impressive sixth-place finish with 57 goals scored, as well as a trip to the Europa League semis, before engineering a 2023/24 season for the ages. Leverkusen secured their first-ever Bundesliga title as well as their first trophy in three decades, going unbeaten in both the league and the DFB-Pokal and reaching the Europa League final, before finishing second in the 2024/25 campaign and going from 89 to 72 goals scored.
During his tenure in Germany, Alonso showed foresight in balancing his attacking options and getting optimal output from not just Leverkusen’s centre-forwards in Victor Boniface and Patrik Schick, but their other players as well. With wing-backs Jeremie Frimpong bombing up the right flank and Alex Grimaldo carving out sensational crosses from deep, midfield pivot Granit Xhaka and Exequiel Palacios chipping in with incisive runs into the box, and Florian Wirtz running the show as the team’s creative talisman, it’s undeniable that this Leverkusen side was a team project. Alonso understands that no player is bigger than the team, and that’s one key principle that he’ll be looking to inculcate in his new players this summer.
Whether it’s the 15 European Cups that loom in the trophy cabinet or the dazzling assortment of big-name superstars, the Real Madrid managerial role is a position like no other in world football. You don’t just have to win trophies, you don’t just have to go far in the Champions League and win in El Clasico, you don’t just have to deal with the constant pressure from the media, but you also have to manage a dressing room that is packed with high earners and heavy egos. You need to pacify any growing tensions, you need to find a way to make sure you’re taking everyone’s voices into account, and above all, you need to make sure everyone’s on the same page.
Alonso’s calm and collected style of leadership could prove vital as he looks to gain the respect of his players and get everyone beating under the same drum. At Leverkusen, there were never any signs of locker-room discontent or training-ground bust-ups – the players were dedicated towards fulfilling his tactical strategy and putting in a shift both on and off the ball. As one of the greatest midfielders of the 21st century, Alonso will have undoubtedly made an impression already on his players, who watched him win a Champions League and league title with Real Madrid, as well as a World Cup with Spain. If a player is struggling to play the right pass or isn’t quite having the cleanest of touches, Alonso can step aside and provide him with vital knowledge to help him transform his game.
Whilst Ancelotti will depart Chamartin as the most successful manager in club history, there’s no doubt that his tactical setup went stale over the final season of his second spell in Madrid. Many of these players will prefer to have a younger coach – 22 years younger to be exact – who can perhaps relate better to their issues and speak their language, so to speak. What’s more, many of them will likely prefer having to adapt to stricter tactical demands as opposed to Ancelotti’s style of relationism, which allows for a more intuitive style of play and is predicated upon players forming organic relationships between each other and flowing into the game.
When Alonso was starting his coaching journey in 2018, he enjoyed a brief spell in charge of Real Madrid’s U-14 side. His experience with La Fabrica could see him give more opportunities to academy talents like Gonzalo Garcia and Jacobo Ramon, as opposed to Ancelotti who typically turned a blind eye to players in the youth ranks. As seen with Barcelona’s success this season under Hansi Flick, having these young, hungry academy products who live and breathe the club is essential both on and off the pitch, and there’s reason to believe that Alonso will make an effort to incorporate them into the team.
Attack may win games, but defence wins championships. What’s more, a worsened defence can lose you championships. That was certainly the case for Real Madrid this season, who conceded 16 goals in their four meetings with Barcelona (all defeats), and who also let in 2+ goals to Arsenal (twice), Real Sociedad, Celta de Vigo, Valencia and Leganes over the final two months of the campaign. Despite scoring 24 goals fewer than their Catalan rivals, Real might have had a chance at retaining their domestic crown had they been able to batten down the hatches in defence and avoid costly slip-ups like a 1-1 draw at Osasuna in February or a 2-1 defeat at Real Betis on March 1st.
Instead, they finished second after conceding 38 league goals – 12 more than last season – although part of that is down to an injury crisis that laid siege to various key players like Antonio Rudiger and Dani Carvajal. It remains to be seen whether or not we will see Alonso continue with his three-man backline that brought him great acclaim in Leverkusen, which would likely take a long time to absorb, or go with the four-man defence that has been the customary system in Madrid. However, Alonso’s coaching history demonstrates that he is more than capable of organising the defensive setup in a way that Real can commit bodies forward without leaking unnecessary chances.
Focusing on a high-pressing, mid-block defensive setup, Alonso prioritises a 5-2-2-1 formation out of possession to congest the middle of the pitch and force opponents out wide, where his wing-backs can step up, win the ball back and break on the counter. Real struggled in big games due to their lack of application out of possession, specifically due to poor work rate from Mbappe and Vinicius, but Alonso will be looking to counteract this and impress his tactics upon his players. Alonso’s teams are centred around pressing the opposition and forcing errors before recovering the ball immediately and hitting in transition, whilst they are also capable of remaining compact out of possession in an intelligent rest defence, squeezing the opponent, and remaining cool under pressure.
All in all, Alonso is the perfect coaching hire for Real Madrid. But don’t just take my word for it – take the opinion of Waist raewho has spent the past three years covering Alonso’s Leverkusen as the lead Bundesliga commentator for ESPN.
“I’ve always had that sixth sense that Real Madrid and Xabi Alonso were meant to be together again at some point. Last year, when it seemed the whole footballing world was obsessed with him going to Liverpool, it didn’t make sense for Alonso to go there as he was still building something with Bayer Leverkusen. I kept believing that if you were in his position, the ultimate job he’d want is Real Madrid. For a retired Spanish footballer, that’s a job that you would really want. He’s served his apprenticeship in Leverkusen, where he was able to develop as a manager and learn by doing in a relatively small place and a lower-pressure environment. He’s ready for the next step, an almighty step, but I’ve always had it in the back of my mind that the logical next move for him was Real Madrid.”
