Xabi Alonso’s fast rise from rookie coach to Actual Madrid

Few gamers have a CV to match Xabi Alonso’s. Not solely did he win a number of trophies at three of Europe’s greatest golf equipment — Liverpool, Actual Madrid and Bayern Munich — however he additionally anchored the midfield in Spain‘s golden period, profitable the FIFA World Cup and two UEFA European Championships.

He was coached by a few of this century’s elite managers: Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti, José Mourinho and Rafa Benítez. All people liked taking part in with Alonso: former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has known as him “royalty” and “the best central midfielder I ever played alongside.”

Now, lower than three years into his profession as a top-level coach, Alonso is leaving Bayer Leverkusen to return to Actual Madrid, probably the most pressurized job in world soccer. He does so having made his title by profitable the 2023-24 Bundesliga title with out shedding a single sport and with an thrilling, intense and efficient type of play. In different phrases, he’s earned it.

“Xabi is one of the best coaches I’ve ever had,” Spain ahead Borja Iglesias, who was a part of Leverkusen’s title-winning squad, instructed ESPN. That sentiment is shared by everybody ESPN spoke with who has labored with Alonso throughout his brief however profitable teaching profession, shedding gentle on how he has risen so quickly to the ranks of the sport’s high managers.

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Elite participant to rookie coach

When Rafa Benítez took over as supervisor of Liverpool in the summertime of 2004, after profitable his second LaLiga title with Valencia, he made Alonso considered one of his first signings, bringing him in from Actual Sociedad for a £10.5 million switch price. 9 months later, the midfielder scored within the Champions League remaining to assist Liverpool raise the trophy.

“Normally you have some players in your teams that you can see as a coach, behind the mentality that they have,” Benítez instructed ESPN. “Xabi was a clever player, and you could think ‘yeah, he will be a coach.’ How good he can be — you never know.”

Luis García, now an ESPN analyst, arrived at Liverpool on the identical day as Alonso as a part of Benítez’s Spanish revolution. “He was already acting like a manager when he was at Liverpool,” García instructed ESPN. “You would see that he was already sending messages to the gamers, placing them in the best positions, telling them what to do.

“He was an extension of the manager, both Luis Aragonés [with Spain] and Rafa Benítez. He was always in the right position, always understanding what was needed. You thought that if he went into coaching, he’d do a good job. He has the temperament to manage situations, he has experience as a player. He learned from the best captains, and he’s learned from the best coaches.”

After retiring in 2017, Alonso didn’t wait lengthy to pursue a profession in administration. In April 2018 he started learning for UEFA’s A and B teaching licenses, taking six weeks of intensive lessons on the headquarters of the Spanish Soccer Federation (RFEF) amongst a star-studded group that included future Barcelona boss Xavi Hernández and Madrid’s reserve-team coach Raúl González.

Later that yr, he took his first job. Many former high gamers are parachuted instantly — and sometimes prematurely — right into a place at an elite membership, for which they’re typically ill-prepared. Not Alonso. His first teaching position was with Actual Madrid’s Infantil A, the under-14s. Two of the younger gamers from his 2018-19 squad — Jacobo Ramón and Chema Andrés — have simply made their breakthrough into Madrid’s first staff this season, with Ramón scoring a dramatic late winner towards Mallorca on his first league begin in Might to delay Barça’s title celebrations. One other, Álex Jiménez, is impressing at AC Milan.

“It was about taking the right steps,” García mentioned. “It’s something that comes with [Xabi’s] personality. He never rushed his career… He’s Xabi Alonso. I’m sure there were a lot of teams ready to have him, but he decided to go to the Real Madrid academy first, then to Real Sociedad: teams that he knows, and can control, and decide how to do things, and also make mistakes.”

Alonso is from Tolosa, a city within the Basque Nation not removed from San Sebastián. He started his profession as a participant there, at Actual Sociedad, serving to the staff end second in LaLiga earlier than becoming a member of Liverpool in 2004. When it was time for his first transfer in administration exterior of Madrid’s Valdebebas academy, he took cost of La Actual’s reserve staff, Sanse, in June 2019.

When Alonso arrived, right-back Álex Petxarroman — born and raised in San Sebastián — was already a part of the squad. “He’s always been an idol at La Real,” Petxarroman, who now performs for Deportivo La Coruña in Spain’s second division, instructed ESPN. “My first impression was ‘wow.’ A world champion, a champion in everything, comes to coach you. There were a few nerves, waiting to see what he would be like. But when he arrived, it was all very easy.”

In Spain, reserve groups compete in the identical league construction as first groups, with the caveat that they can’t be promoted to the identical degree as their senior counterparts. In Alonso’s first season, Sanse completed fifth of their group in Segunda B, the regionalized third tier of Spanish soccer. A season later, 2020-21, they have been promoted as champions, reaching the second tier for the primary time in 60 years, and for less than the second time within the membership’s historical past.

Petxarroman performed an vital position that season, captaining the facet. “[Alonso] is close to the players,” he mentioned. “He connects with you simply. Everybody speaks effectively of him on the golf equipment he’s been at.

“I remember when we won promotion, it was very emotional. I’d had a bad injury the year before, a cruciate [ligament tear]. He’s the coach who got the most potential out of me, the coach who knew how to get my best football out of me. The conversation we had on the pitch, just after we won promotion, has really stayed with me.”

Actual Sociedad’s first-team squad is now full of homegrown expertise, and a few of the gamers from Alonso’s technology are actually first-team regulars, like midfielders Jon Olasagasti (21 LaLiga appearances this season), Beñat Turrientes (19) and defender Jon Pacheco (13).

Petxarroman says Alonso articulated his teaching philosophy, even then. “His teams want the ball, but they also want to be direct,” he tells ESPN. “The first press, when you lose possession, has to be intense. That’s what he conveyed to us the most. He has a lot of ideas in his head — for how he wants his team to play, with a lot of tactical variations — but the most important principles are those.”

It’s what you’d count on from a scholar of Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti, taking a bit of every: tactically versatile, exhaustive and demanding, but additionally an astute, understated man-manager.

“I remember one day, we were talking,” Petxarroman mentioned, “and he was telling me that the way I was training wasn’t the best. He said I needed to train every day at 100% to get to the highest level. He told me I had a huge potential, but my way of training wasn’t the best. That often comes to my head. It changed my way of training. I wasn’t so relaxed, I started to give a lot more.”

Sanse have been relegated from the second division in 2021-22, however there was no criticism of Alonso. He was already changing into a coach whose type mimicked his taking part in outlook: technical, eye-catching and with a tactical emphasis — not all the time the case when a high participant strikes into teaching. After three years again in San Sebastián, it was time for his subsequent step. — AK

Remodeling Leverkusen into invincibles

For a lot of its existence, Bayer Leverkusen has been the prototypical practically membership. It produced good gamers and good seasons, however reliably got here up simply wanting any actual glory — therefore the notorious nickname “Neverkusen.” After two-and-a-half years and three trophies, nonetheless, Alonso leaves behind a membership remodeled.

Alonso deftly steered Leverkusen out of the relegation zone when he arrived in October 2022, earlier than establishing his personal model of soccer. He held again many of the extra sophisticated concepts for his first preseason when the actual tactical work started, with particular coaching workouts to assemble a possession-based system.

Then, in 2023-24 — Alonso’s first full season accountable for a senior staff — the Werkself lastly gained a Bundesliga title after 45 years within the high flight, in addition to the German Cup. They claimed that home double with out shedding a single sport — their solely defeat of the entire season got here within the remaining of the Europa League.

They couldn’t maintain that this season, ending second to Bayern Munich within the league and falling in disappointing vogue to them within the Champions League spherical of 16. However the easy proven fact that Alonso stayed for one more season after the 2024 breakthrough, regardless of openings at — and clear curiosity from — two of his former golf equipment (Bayern and Liverpool), strengthened Leverkusen’s new standing as Germany’s second-best staff.

Whereas sure rules have been non-negotiable — you’d nearly by no means see a hoof-it-and-hope lengthy ball, for instance — Alonso’s strategy was marked as a lot as something by its flexibility. Leverkusen completed matches with a possession fee below 50% in about 20% of matches, and had over 65% of the ball in 32% of video games, however they nonetheless averaged 2.19 factors per sport in his tenure when having fun with lower than 50% possession, for instance, and a couple of.15 when over that mark. They may counterattack, however they didn’t should. They may ratchet up tight defensive strain with counter-pressing and a excessive line of defense, however they solely did it when the event known as for it.

This flexibility might backfire at instances: Alonso was not proof against overthinking his lineup right here and there, and his change from a three-man again line to 4 towards Bayern and in a number of UEFA matches bore combined outcomes. However when Plan A didn’t work, Leverkusen often had relentless, clutch play to depend on. Throughout his tenure they loved a plus-32 purpose differential from the eightieth minute onward; that features an unimaginable 34-5 margin in all competitions in 2023-24. They saved a virtually season-long unbeaten streak in stoppage time on what felt like numerous events. As a lot because the health coaching his employees launched contributed to so many late wins, it was the coach’s unwavering confidence and his gamers’ perception in him that pushed them over the road in so many important moments.

Clearly, the personnel helped. Alonso signed Granit Xhaka in 2023 to be his midfield normal. The previous Arsenal captain’s expertise, backed up by stalwart central defenders Jonathan Tah and Edmond Tapsoba, helped gamers equivalent to Victor Boniface, Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz thrive and turn into a few of Europe’s most enjoyable younger attacking abilities. Alonso had what appeared like the proper personnel for his imaginative and prescient, however he additionally made a few of that personnel good. Earlier than Alonso, neither Frimpong or his fellow wingback Alejandro Grimaldo, for instance, had produced attacking numbers wherever near their Leverkusen output, and Wirtz’s personal improvement went into overdrive below Alonso’s steering.

In some methods, it’s simple to neglect that hiring Alonso felt nearly dangerous. He had not managed in a high division earlier than, and whereas Leverkusen doubtless weren’t severe relegation candidates in 2022-23, they have been nonetheless seventeenth within the league desk when he arrived. However managing director Simon Rolfes appeared to instantly know that he had discovered a kindred spirit.

“We already had quite good information — analysis about how he plays, what we could expect, how it would fit our players, his personality, how he is as a person — and the personal conversation I had with him confirmed this,” Rolfes instructed ESPN final yr. “He could gain [experience] here, and we as a club could also support him. I think that’s also important: We have a good, stable club. We have a good coaching staff here who can help him, very good guys. And then in my position, my relationship with him, I have to support him.”

Others on the membership have been additionally satisfied that Alonso’s aura and expertise as a participant, being a really clever and positionally conscious midfielder, might make him the proper selection regardless of making such a giant step up.

“Simon and Xabi see football similarly, wanting to have control of the game,” Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro instructed ESPN final yr. “Both were midfielders who played the same position. What convinced me was Xabi’s analytical skills, how he analyzed a situation, what he thought was needed, what he learned from different coaches, so I had the impression he always wanted to learn. His ability to take his experiences as a player and put them into his role as a coach. He’s intelligent, calm, ambitious.”

In Leverkusen, Alonso discovered a membership that matched his ambition. “There are bigger clubs,” he mentioned following the staff’s first match after his departure was introduced, “however all of us care concerning the membership and the followers, the individuals from the membership. We need to make issues proper, and we glance after one another, and we glance after the membership — we need to do it the best method.

“So with that attitude, with that mindset, you feel good here. It’s a great club, and it has been great for me, and it has been great for so many players along the history. And it’s going to be continuing.” — BC

What he’ll carry to Actual Madrid

“What has been the key for me [at Leverkusen] is the players,” Alonso mentioned. “I have had their conviction, their belief. They gave me the privilege — ‘Yes, we want to follow you.’ They believe, ‘Yes, this can work,’ and they try to follow and believe what we are doing.”

Along with his expertise in Madrid, Alonso is aware of precisely what he’s getting himself into, and his assured demeanor and observe document actually recommend his potential there’s excessive. However reaching the identical degree of buy-in and tactical flexibility will nonetheless be tough at a membership using at the very least three gamers — Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Jude Bellingham — with Ballon d’Or ambitions.

It’ll even be tough with the personnel Actual Madrid presently have in non-attacking positions. The anticipated addition of right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold (one other participant whose acknowledged goal is to win the Ballon d’Or) might account for the retirement of Toni Kroos final summer season; the membership didn’t signal a like-for-like substitute, and the influence of his loss was felt by way of offensive transition and normal attacking stability. Alexander-Arnold isn’t a direct substitute both, however he’s the perfect passing full-back within the sport, and his addition would imply Alonso wouldn’t should ask fairly as a lot of 33-year-old Dani Carvajal.

It’s good that Actual Madrid will do loads of very fairly issues in assault, however their defensive construction transferring ahead continues to be very a lot unknown. Even at 32 years outdated, center-back Antonio Rüdiger stays able to placing in a 4,000-minute season, however Madrid fairly merely weren’t ok on the again in 2024-25. Ancelotti needed to primarily make do with a center-back rotation of Rüdiger, 22-year outdated Raúl Asencio, midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni and oft-injured Éder Militão and David Alaba. Within the Champions League — the match by which Actual Madrid measures itself — they ranked twenty ninth out of 36 groups in pictures allowed per possession (0.145) and 18th in xG allowed per shot (0.16). In six knockout-phase matches, they conceded 10 targets, together with 5 over the 2 legs of their quarterfinal loss to Arsenal.

Madrid’s buildup play was nonetheless comparatively sound, nonetheless, and Alonso ought to be capable to construct on that. In case you couldn’t disrupt the circulation of the ball towards Alonso’s Leverkusen, nothing else mattered. Leverkusen averaged at the very least 7.5 passes per possession in 45% of his matches there, and so they averaged 2.57 factors per sport in these matches, shedding solely two in practically three seasons. When averaging below 7.5 passes per possession, they managed an honest however unspectacular 1.82 factors per sport in his tenure.

The statistics present clearly how Alonso likes to assault:

Leverkusen created at the very least three buildup assaults (sequences with 10 or extra passes that finish in a shot or a contact contained in the field) in 57% of Alonso’s matches and averaged 2.38 factors per sport once they hit that mark (in comparison with 1.85 factors per sport once they didn’t).

They created at the very least six buildup assaults in 28% of his matches and averaged 2.69 factors per sport in these matches.

Once they averaged at the very least 4.1 passes per sequence (67% of the time), they averaged 2.38 factors per sport versus 1.69 once they didn’t.

In video games with fewer than 90 possessions (60% of Alonso’s matches), they averaged 2.37 factors per sport versus 1.84 within the others.

Opponents allowed over 11 passes per defensive motion in 88% of Alonso’s matches, and Leverkusen averaged 2.21 factors per sport in these versus 1.69 within the others.

You must velocity up and disrupt an Alonso staff, and even with out Kroos it should doubtless show troublesome to throw Actual Madrid off of their passing rhythm as soon as Alonso has put in his patterns of play.

“He likes the possession, and Real Madrid is used to having possession,” Benítez mentioned. “So he will have good players, technically good players, and they can do things in the way that he wants to do it. They will have more control. They will be on top of the other teams. And he has been doing that with Leverkusen for a couple of years.”

Nonetheless, he’ll nonetheless have to determine find out how to drive the problem at instances regardless of having perhaps the least pressing-friendly forwards within the sport. Amongst Champions League groups, Actual Madrid ranked thirty first in ball recoveries per match (38.0) and twenty seventh in excessive turnovers pressured (8.8) this season. Alonso had so many tactical playing cards to play in Leverkusen, and regardless of the epic expertise he may have at his disposal, it’s not a assure that he’ll discover the identical flexibility in Madrid. In fact, he may not want that flexibility if Plan A works effectively sufficient. — BC

What he’ll inherit at Actual Madrid

At Leverkusen, Alonso inherited a membership and a set of gamers that have been hungry for fulfillment. At Actual Madrid, success is anticipated always. In case you don’t win, you’re out, irrespective of who you’re. Alonso turns into the seventh former Actual Madrid participant to take the reins on the membership; just one, Zinedine Zidane, lasted greater than a year-and-a-half in cost.

“Everybody’s expecting that you have to win,” mentioned Benítez, who spent a complete of just about twenty years at Actual Madrid as a participant within the membership’s academy and in varied teaching positions. “Finishing second means nothing. So you know that you have to win and you know that you have to deal with the pressure every day, because that is the only way. Xabi has been at Liverpool, winning, and then he has been at Real Madrid and Bayern. So he knows what pressure means at this level.”

Nonetheless, in some ways, Alonso arrives at Actual Madrid on the good time. All people accepts that the staff have underperformed. That’s why Ancelotti is leaving, a yr earlier than his contract was resulting from expire.

Madrid finish the season and not using a main trophy — lacking out within the Champions League, LaLiga and the Copa del Rey — for the primary time since 2021. They’ve been crushed 4 instances by Barcelona in three competitions: 4-0 and 4-3 in LaLiga, 3-2 within the Copa del Rey remaining and 5-2 within the Spanish Supercopa. They’ve additionally misplaced to Athletic Membership, Espanyol, Actual Betis and Valencia within the league and to Lille, AC Milan, Liverpool and Arsenal in Europe. The room for enchancment, by way of outcomes, is obvious.

By Ancelotti’s personal admission, he has didn’t make this group an efficient unit. “It’s been a problem of balance,” the coach admitted after the win over Mallorca, his first sport because it was introduced he would take over as Brazil coach. Discovering a solution to match Mbappé right into a facet that already contained Vini Jr., Bellingham and Rodrygo, with out fatally compromising the staff’s defensive integrity.

Ancelotti has tried all season, making quite a few switches — the simplest being an out-of-possession 4-4-2, with Bellingham and Rodrygo serving to out in midfield — with out sustained success. That is an inviting alternative for a coach with clear tactical concepts, and a robust persona and mandate to implement them.

Sources instructed ESPN that Alonso was eager to take cost of the staff forward of the FIFA Membership World Cup as it will give him extra time with the gamers to implement his concepts forward of the 2025-26 season. There’s simply over a month between the tip of the Membership World Cup on July 13 and the doubtless begin date for the subsequent LaLiga marketing campaign.

The challenges are appreciable. Mbappé and Vini Jr., two gamers preferring the left of the assault, should comprise an efficient entrance two. There are already indicators of this: Mbappé’s hat trick in Madrid’s 4-3 loss to Barcelona on Might 11 included two targets assisted by Vini Jr. However the pair’s off-the-ball work — famously, they’re the 2 outfield gamers who’ve spent most time strolling in LaLiga this season — should be addressed.

There’s the problem of Bellingham, whose stellar debut season has been adopted by a harder follow-up. Bellingham scored 19 league targets in 2023-24, however solely eight in 2024-25. He nonetheless performs with protecting strapping on a shoulder he dislocated in November 2023. Sooner or later, the query of whether or not the midfielder wants surgical procedure must be addressed.

After which there’s Rodrygo, who sources have instructed ESPN has grown bored with getting used as a makeweight in assault and needs to be picked on the left wing, the place he feels he’s handiest. Rodrygo’s entourage have made this clear to membership president Florentino Pérez; it stays to be seen if Alonso will grant his want. Rodrygo needs to listen to from the brand new coach earlier than taking any choices on his future.

Additional again, the midfield wants work, but it surely’s not but clear if that can imply new signings. Sources have instructed ESPN that figures throughout the membership imagine within the potential of Aurélien Tchouaméni and Eduardo Camavinga, though neither has but made a midfield place their very own, and the staff has continued to rely this season on 39-year-old Luka Modric with 25 begins in all competitions. Modric, the membership captain, is out of contract this summer season.

The staff’s vulnerability on the again this season is a matter, with 38 targets conceded in LaLiga to date, the best tally since 2019. Sources have instructed ESPN that an acceptance that each high quality and numbers are wanted in protection. Solely the timing of Alexander-Arnold’s arrival must be finalized, whereas Madrid have already introduced the signing of Spain center-back Dean Huijsen from Bournemouth. They’re eager to signal a left-back, and sources have instructed ESPN they’ve checked out bringing in Benfica‘s Álvaro Carreras, though his potential switch price is larger than Madrid would really like.

So Alonso will have already got an improved squad to work with. Sources have instructed ESPN that Ancelotti was eager for the squad to be strengthened final summer season, and in January, however he wasn’t heeded; Alonso will obtain the reinforcements his predecessor didn’t. And the Membership World Cup, whereas arriving before Alonso may like, provides him an early alternative — in a aggressive setting, however with much less strain than he’d face in a extra established match — to ship outcomes and tangible indicators of progress.

Madrid presents a singular problem; nowhere are expectations larger, and this season has laid naked a staff with deep, structural flaws. “He’s got a lot of work to do,” García mentioned. “[It’s been] a very tough year. With all the injuries, who’s going to come back in good condition? Militão has had two ACL [tears], Carvajal isn’t getting any younger. They are two pillars of the team, two leaders, and you need them. Will Madrid and Florentino Pérez allow him to build his team the way Leverkusen did, deciding which players will arrive, and the system to be played?”

However chatting with individuals who know and have labored with Alonso, the consensus is that he has the teaching skills to succeed. “He has the ability to analyze and prepare for games, but he also has the ability to get through to players,” Celta Vigo and Spain ahead Borja Iglesias, who spent six months on mortgage at Leverkusen instructed ESPN. “He has huge charisma … Above all, we connected as people. He helped me to be myself. I think he’s one of the great coaches I’ve had in my career.”

And, maybe extra importantly, his historical past with Actual Madrid means he is aware of what awaits him when he takes over on the Bernabéu. “He knows the environment, he knows the press, he knows the director [of football], he knows the president,” Benítez mentioned. “So I think he has this great experience that will help in the way that he will manage the team.” — AK

ESPN’s Spain reporter Rodrigo Faez, commentator Derek Rae and German soccer author Constantin Eckner contributed to this report