After humiliation against PSG
© Imago
The adventure club World Cup ended for Real Madrid and the new coach Xabi Alonso with a 0: 4 in the semi-finals against Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain. This also gave the disappointing season over, in which the royal people had to watch the arch -rival FC Barcelona celebrated the national triple and even in the quarter -finals of the Champions League you had to cut the sails. “The game marks the end of this season, not the beginning of the next. We are just starting a new era,” said Alonso after the game.
Alonso had taken over the coaching post at the Madrilenen on June 1st after Carlo Ancelotti switched to the Brazilian national team. The former Leverkusener did not have much time to get to know the team before the tournament started. “Here we were in a competition environment, without real training,” he said, adding: “I take a lot of knowledge from this tournament. I would like to build a team that plays together.” The most valuable squad in the world with 1.34 billion euros was said last season that he would not act as a team – especially stars like Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappé were the focus of criticism.
Real’s style of play changed during the club World Cup. While Ancelotti mostly favored a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3, Alonso set up the team from the third group game with two strikers, first in 3-5-2, then in 4-3-1-2. In addition to Mbappé and Vinicius Junior, Shootingstar Gonzalo, who scored four goals at the club World Cup and is the first discovery of Alonso, also acted in this position.
“It is time for a restart. During the club World Cup, we did not talk about the squad planning. Now we are open to improvements. We are always trying to improve. And there is improvement potential,” said Alonso activities on the transfer market. Before the club World Cup, the royal invested 117.5 million euros in newcomers. Dean Huijsen (62.5 million, Bournemouth) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (10 million, Liverpool) strengthened the defensive, Franco Mastantuono (45 million, River Plate), the offensive is to make more variable.
Club ikons Modrić and Vázquez leave Real Madrid
The restart under Alonso will take place without the long-standing real professionals Luka Modrić and Lucas Vázquez, whose contracts ended with leaving. “He is an icon of Real Madrid. He will remember for a lot more good than for the 25 minutes he played today. It is not the most beautiful farewell,” said Alonso about Modrić, with whom he was wearing the real jersey 71 times. The 39 -year -old Croatian in Madrid was under contract and completed 597 games in Madrid – only seven players collected more. Vázquez came to the royal in 2007 and established itself in 2015 after a loan to Espanyol Barcelona in the first team. He comes to 402 missions, against PSG he was substituted in the 83rd minute.