{"id":150992,"date":"2025-06-18T23:02:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T23:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/xabi-alonso-doesnt-work-miracles-and-his-time-at-madrid-starts-with-a-draw-and-questions-against-al-hilal\/"},"modified":"2025-06-18T23:03:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T23:03:00","slug":"xabi-alonso-doesnt-work-miracles-and-his-time-at-madrid-starts-with-a-draw-and-questions-against-al-hilal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/xabi-alonso-doesnt-work-miracles-and-his-time-at-madrid-starts-with-a-draw-and-questions-against-al-hilal\/","title":{"rendered":"Xabi Alonso doesn’t work miracles, and his time at Madrid starts with a draw and questions against Al Hilal."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Xabi Alonso<\/strong> faced a significant challenge at the start of his journey as coach of Real Madrid<\/strong>. Carlo Ancelotti<\/strong> previously remarked that a draw at the club often signals the onset of a crisis, and this proved true as Real Madrid ended their opening match in the Club World Cup<\/strong> in a lackluster 1-1 draw against Al Hilal<\/strong>. The match displayed a rather uninspired performance; although they initially took the lead through Gonzalo<\/strong>, they conceded a penalty equalizer from Neves<\/strong>, and in a nail-biting moment before full time, Valverde<\/strong> missed a crucial penalty kick.<\/p>\n

In his first lineup, Xabi Alonso<\/strong>, missing Mbapp\u00e9<\/strong> due to illness, diverged from the tactical model he had utilized at Leverkusen<\/strong> (which featured three central defenders) and instead opted for the familiar 4-3-3 system. This included Rodrygo<\/strong> and Vinicius<\/strong> on the flanks, with Bellingham<\/strong> in midfield and Gonzalo<\/strong> in place of the absent French star. However, this tactical plan, reminiscent of Ancelotti’s reign, encountered serious issues early on.<\/p>\n

Trent<\/strong>, making his debut alongside Huijsen<\/strong>, pushed forward to support the double pivot in attack, aimed at liberating Valverde<\/strong>. However, this strategy barely lasted a few minutes due to the team\u2019s inability to retain possession.<\/p>\n

The opposition, under the guidance of new coach Inzaghi<\/strong>, demonstrated their capability by dominating possession. They effectively dictated the pace of the game, keeping the Madrid team on their toes and exposing significant weaknesses in their midfield. They exploited the lack of defensive support from Vinicius<\/strong> to Garc\u00eda<\/strong>, often creating mismatches in the center, and made threatening incursions by targeting space behind Trent<\/strong>. The Saudi side, known for finishing second in the last league behind Al-Ittihad<\/strong>, led by Benzema<\/strong>, proved very much a threat on a European level.<\/p>\n

Incapable of More Than Three Passes<\/h2>\n

Milinkovic-Savic<\/strong> tested Courtois<\/strong> in the very first minute, and a close chance for Leonardo<\/strong> just nine minutes in went begging, narrowly missing the target after a strong build-up by Cancelo<\/strong>. The Saudi team demonstrated a dominant performance, with Real Madrid struggling to string together consecutive passes, often failing to make it past three before losing the ball.<\/p>\n

Alonso visibly expressed frustration due to the lack of defensive intensity from his players, not only in pressing but also during individual challenges. An offside goal from Lodi<\/strong> served as a warning, and a two-minute timeout due to heat allowed Alonso to clarify his tactics. He urged his players, \u201cPass and move,\u201d calling for greater mobility on the field.<\/p>\n

Around the 33rd minute, relief arrived for Real Madrid when Trent<\/strong> won the ball back, initiating a counterattack. He passed to Vinicius<\/strong>, who in turn found Valverde<\/strong>, who eventually fed Rodrygo<\/strong>. The latter delivered a deft diagonal pass to Gonzalo<\/strong>, who managed to score with a poorly struck but effective shot.<\/p>\n

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<\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
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Valverde laments his penalty miss.<\/span>AFP<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Madrid squad found a brief oasis amidst their struggle but squandered it just minutes later. In the 39th minute, Asencio<\/strong> made a crucial mistake, fouling Leonardo<\/strong> in the box, giving the referee no option but to award a penalty. Rub\u00e9n Neves<\/strong> coolly converted, slotting the ball past Courtois<\/strong>. Just before halftime, Al Dawsari<\/strong> caused further anxiety for Madrid with a dangerous run and a shot that was narrowly deflected by Asencio<\/strong> when it appeared destined for goal.<\/p>\n

In the locker room, Alonso made a bold move, substituting Asencio<\/strong> for G\u00fcler<\/strong>, sliding Tchouam\u00e9ni<\/strong> back into a central defensive role. This change injected life into Madrid, and just a minute into the second half, G\u00fcler nearly scored but hit the crossbar instead.<\/p>\n

As the match progressed, Madrid controlled the tempo but struggled to capitalize with significant shots on goal. The performances of Vinicius<\/strong> and Bellingham<\/strong> fell short of expectations, prompting Alonso to swap in Lucas<\/strong> and Brahim<\/strong> for Trent<\/strong> and Rodrygo<\/strong> with 20 minutes remaining. He later introduced academy player V\u00edctor Mu\u00f1oz<\/strong> and Modric<\/strong> to replace Vinicius<\/strong> and Bellingham<\/strong>, forming a front line of less experienced players to overcome the absence of their stars.<\/p>\n

Madrid had a chance to claim victory when they were awarded a penalty after a VAR review revealed a foul by Al Qahtani<\/strong> on Fran<\/strong>. However, with Mbapp\u00e9<\/strong>, Vini, and Bellingham<\/strong> absent, Fede<\/strong> stepped up and found himself thwarted by Bono<\/strong>. With much work still to do, Real Madrid faces crucial matches against Pachuca<\/strong> and Salzburg<\/strong> to secure their progression in the tournament.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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General News – 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Xabi Alonso faced a significant challenge at the start of his journey as coach of Real Madrid. Carlo Ancelotti previously remarked that a draw at the club often signals the onset of a crisis, and this proved true as Real Madrid ended their opening match in the Club World Cup in a lackluster 1-1 draw […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":150993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[36710,36743,37245],"class_list":["post-150992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-deportes","tag-deportes-futbol","tag-real-madrid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}