1. Xabi Alonso faced a challenge in his first match as Real Madrid head coach.
Carlo Ancelotti said during his second spell in charge that a draw at Real Madrid was always a sign of crisis. The Whites have just started the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in such a way.
Xabi Alonso's debut did not go smoothly. Photo: EFE
At the Hard Rock Stadium, before the ball rolled, there was an expectation of positivity in the new era. When the match ended, the general feeling among Madridistas was quite similar to the disappointing end under Carlo Ancelotti.
Especially the regret in the final minutes, when Bono blocked Fede Valverde's penalty kick: the 7th time they missed a penalty in 19 times since the beginning of the 2024/25 season, under 2 coaching dynasties.
But that wasn't the only problem. Before that penalty, Real Madrid were once again lacking ideas, lacking coherence and lacking in threat.
Not only that, "Los Blancos" appeared quite fragile whenever Al Hilal held the ball, even though the squad was reinforced with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen, the most expensive central defender in the club's history.
In Alonso's formation, Real Madrid were almost incapable of applying pressure to cut off the Saudi Arabian opponents' attacking lines, but just stood by passively.
Real Madrid kicked off their Group H campaign at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup with a draw they did not expect.
2. In the context of Kylian Mbappe's absence due to fever, Xabi did not have any tactical revolution, as he had transformed Bayer Leverkusen very diversely.
Instead, “Professor” Xabi kept the familiar 4-3-3 formation that Real Madrid players have operated in recent months: Rodrygo and Vinicius on the wings, Bellingham playing as a left midfielder, Gonzalo Garcia replacing Mbappe.
The plan, which was very similar to the late Ancelotti era, quickly fell into disarray.
Milinkovic-Savic and Al Hilal played more proactively. Photo: EFE
Alexander-Arnold was pushed into a second defensive midfield role in attack to free up Valverde, but this only lasted a few minutes. Not because Xabi had changed, but because Madrid simply couldn't control the ball.
Al Hilal with new coach Simone Inzaghi - who took Inter to the 2024/25 Champions League final - completely dominated the game, adjusted the tempo of the match to his liking and caused chaos in Real Madrid's midfield.
The Saudis took advantage of Vinicius' poor defensive support for Garcia to create dominance on the flanks, creating danger in almost every attack. When there was no clear-cut opportunity, they easily switched flanks to exploit the space behind Trent.
In the first few minutes, Milinkovic-Savic, Leonardo and Joao Cancelo made Real Madrid helpless. “Los Blancos” could not coordinate 3 consecutive passes.
“Pass and move ,” Alonso instructed from the sidelines. Renan Lodi’s goal was ruled out for offside as a warning.
3. After more than half an hour, Real Madrid opened the scoring. Trent stole the ball, Gonzalo launched a counter-attack, passed to Vinicius, who went past Valverde, then Rodrygo assisted the 21-year-old to finish into the wide open goal.
Bellingham faded. Photo: EFE
Despite that, Real Madrid still failed to make a mark. A few minutes later, Asencio committed a foul in the penalty area and Ruben Neves scored the equalizer from the 11-meter mark.
In the afternoon (US time) when Vinicius and Bellingham were too dim, Real Madrid was deadlocked.
The lacklustre display continued late in the second half, when Al Qahtani fouled Fran in the box. Play was stopped for a lengthy VAR review, before Valverde (without Vinicius and Jude Bellingham on the pitch) took the penalty, which was saved by Bono.
“We lacked balance,” Alonso lamented, in a rhythm Madridistas have become accustomed to from Ancelotti. “At the beginning, we lacked a lot, both with and without the ball,” he admitted .
It is clear that Alonso's time is short. “It is a process ,” he stressed; “everything needs time and repetition to sink in a little bit. We want to learn . ”
Pachuca and Salzburg are not strong, so Real Madrid still has a wide open door to enter the knockout stage of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/real-madrid-1-1-al-hilal-khong-co-phep-mau-tu-xabi-alonso-2412881.html
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