Now it’s finally official: Carlo Ancelotti’s second stint as Real Madrid manager has come to an end, and former Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso will replace him.
It has been an open secret for over a year that Florentino Perez wanted his former player to be the next Real Madrid manager.
With the current season ending without any silverware for the club from the Spanish capital, it was time to move on.
Ancelotti’s second stint as manager for Real was very successful overall.
In four years, the experienced Italian won La Liga twice, the Copa del Rey once, and the UEFA Champions League twice.
Still, Los Blancos felt like it was time to move on to the next generation of star coaches and set their eyes on their former holding midfielder, Alonso, early.
Alonso was a very successful player for Liverpool, Real Madrid and FC Bayern.
He played at the highest level for approximately 15 years as a player and was a key part of Spain’s legendary run from 2008 to 2012, when Alonso was part of the Spain team that won two European Championships and one World Cup.
Xabi Alonso began his coaching career as a coach in the Real Madrid academy before becoming the manager of Real Sociedads B-team, another of his former clubs.
With impressive work in three years there, the struggling German club Bayer Leverkusen decided to make him Peter Boszs successor in October 2022.
After struggling in his first season, Leverkusen played a historic season in his first full season at the club, going invincible domestically and winning the Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal, and making it to the 2023/2024 UEFA Europa League Final, where Atalanta managed to hand them their only defeat of the season.
With these feats, Real locked onto Alonso as their successor to Ancelotti, and the Spaniard never hid his interest in the job.
In this tactical analysis and head coach analysis, we will examine Xabi Alonso tactics he will bring to Real Madrid, what made him so successful in the Bundesliga, and how he will shape the next generation at Real Madrid.
Listen to this article free on the Total Football Analysis Podcast via Spotify, Apple Podcast, or RSS.
Cutting Through The Lines Quickly
Overall, Xabi Alonso and Bayer Leverkusen were a complete success story over the past two years.
Yes, this season was a step back from the unbelievable campaign they enjoyed a year prior, but you can’t expect a club like Leverkusen to play at that level consistently.
Examining what made Leverkusen so special over the last couple of years reveals a couple of key factors, including their late goals, which often resulted from their exceptional conditioning and confidence.
However, what really sets them apart from other clubs is their play in possession, which we will examine in this article.
Xabi Alonso formation implemented a 3-4-2-1 at Leverkusen starting in his second season and has stuck with it ever since.
One thing that really stands out for Leverkusen under Alonso is their ability to dissect opposing pressing attempts easily and create dynamic attacking patterns from anywhere on the pitch.
Therefore, Leverkusens key part is their attacking press, which we won’t examine in this piece.
However, Leverkusen were elite at putting pressure on the opposing team’s build-up phase and forcing many long balls.
One of these long balls is now the starting point of a situation we will examine here.
Edmond Tapsoba easily picks the long ball out of the air to start this phase of possession for Alonso’s men.
The first thing we can see in the picture above is that both central midfielders are very close to the defensive line, and the attackers are also in their own half.
Leverkusen do not stretch
