Real Madrid Vs Juventus [1-0] Club World Cup 2025: Xabi Alonso Wing Play – Tactical Analysis

Real Madrid eliminated Juventus from the Round of 16 of the FIFA Club World Cup with a 1-0 win.

Los Blancos advance to the Club World Cup quarter-finals, where they will go on to face Borussia Dortmund.

The match confirmed that I Bianconeri will need to make some remarkable adjustments in their squad during this transfer market in order to compete seriously for the top spots and avoid having a negative season.

For Real Madrid, it is safe to say that Xabi Alonso has already started working seriously with the group and has succeeded in organising the team in the way he likes while progressively implementing his preferred tactics.

The FIFA Club World Cup was the perfect opportunity for Alonso to test his players and experiment with his preferred tactics using the actual players at his disposal.

Of course, experimenting and building while winning matches and advancing in an international competition is always better than experimenting in a less motivating atmosphere.

In this tactical analysis article on the Club World Cup match between Real Madrid and Juventus, we will assess Real Madrid performance under Xabi Alonso tactics.

The analysis will also explore Juventus flaws and weaknesses under Igor Tudor.

Real Madrid Vs Juventus Lineups

Real Madrid started the match in a 3-5-2 formation with Thibaut Courtois in goal, Dean Huijsen, Aurélien Tchouaméni and Antonio Rüdiger as centre-backs, Fran García as a left wing-back, and Trent Alexander-Arnold as a right wing-back.

Federico Valverde, Arda Güler, and Jude Bellingham formed the midfield trio, while Vinícius Júnior and Gonzalo García formed the attacking duo.

Vinícius often leant towards the left wing, while García was more of a centre-forward.

It is also worth noting that there were numerous positional switches throughout the game.

Bellingham and Güler were allowed to advance frequently and exchange positions, while Alexander-Arnold had the freedom to cover the right wing and create.

On the other hand, Igor Tudor opted for the 3-4-2-1 formation with Michele Di Gregorio as goalkeeper, Pierre Kalulu, Daniele Rugani and Lloyd Kelly as centre-backs, Manuel Locatelli and Khéphren Thuram as central midfielders, Alberto Costa as a right wing-back, and Andrea Cambiaso as a left wing-back.

In attack, Tudor utilised Francisco Conceição on the right wing and Kenan Yıldız on the left wing, with the instruction for both to play centrally as often as possible, thereby making them advanced playmakers.

The decision to substitute Filip Kostić and Teun Koopmeiners for Conceição and Yıldız was not the perfect choice to make in this match, as Yıldız and Conceição were the ones creating danger and could have done more to score the equaliser if they were kept on the field, knowing that Kostić and Koopmeiners were not as influential as them in the end.

For the striker role, Tudor opted for Randal Kolo Muani as Dušan Vlahović can be considered out of the manager’s plans at the moment.

Real Madrid Wing Play & Shooting From Distance

Real Madrid attempted to exploit Juventus’ defensive weaknesses as much as possible in this match, relying primarily on Vinícius and Trent’s individual strengths and their ability to win offensive duels.

To help them be even more dangerous and impactful, both Bellingham and Güler were continuously instructed to position themselves near them as much as possible, proposing passing options in the half-spaces and drawing defenders to them in order to free one of the players.

Real Madrid Space Creation On The Wings

Moreover, Real Madrid relied on penetrations followed by a switch of play to the other wing.

These switches of play were impactful and very useful for Real Madrid, mainly because they successfully drew Juventus’ players to one area, thanks to the positioning of the two playmakers and the striker.

This obliged Juventus to intensify their defensive presence in one area and overlook Alexander-Arnold, who was completely free on the right-wing, as this picture shows.

In addition to their attempts from the wings, Real Madrid did not use specific plans to attack from the middle apart from supporting García inside the box by having someone play near him, mostly Bellingham and Vinícius.

Real Madrid Space On The Wings

Another important and new type of wing action for Real Madrid was also observed in this match, as Alexander-Arnold tends to retreat at times, leaving space for players coming from midfield to exploit after drawing the defenders with passing exchanges.

As soon as the defenders try to press high on the players exchanging passes, one of Real Madrid’s players attacks the free space, in this case Valverde, and Güler immediately provides a through pass to him.

Thanks to the exploitation of that free space on the right wing, Real Madrid created a dangerous action.

During the second half, things became a bit less complicated for Real Madrid as they increased their tempo and started exploiting counterattacking opportunities, especially because Juventus began attacking with more players.

This allowed Real Madrid to create dangerous counterattacking opportunities that were ultimately not well-exploited.

Real Madrid Decision-Making During Counterattacks

This inability to make the right decisions during the counterattacking action stresses the importance of fixing some wrong decisions of world-class players like Vinícius, who did everything right during this counterattack until he reached the box but did not want to pass to his teammate, who was better-positioned to finish the action, and opted for the solo effort.

Prioritising collective play, especially when a teammate has better chances of scoring, is fundamental for the team to avoid missing crucial chances, and that’s an aspect that Alonso will have to work on improving for the upcoming season.

It is fair to say that Real Madrid focused on shooting from distance heavily in this match, and it would appear that Alonso thought that it would be a fruitful endeavour.

Real Madrid Shooting From Distance

Real Madrid attempted 20 shots in this match, eight of which were on target, while Juventus attempted only five shots, with two of those being on target.

This number highlights Real Madrid’s effective shooting weapon and its recurrent reliance on it to threaten Juventus’ goal.

Valverde executed most of the shooting attempts from outside the box.

Improving the midfield players’ shooting abilities and encouraging them to shoot from distance will be very useful for Real Madrid in the long run as an effective goalscoring and chance-creation tool, despite the tendency of numerous teams to overlook and undermine the importance of shooting attempts from distance.

Juventus Defensive & Attacking Issues

Juventus played a solid first half but a disappointing second half against Real Madrid, struggling to maintain their high tempo in the second half.

During the first half, they succeeded in keeping possession and creating a few chances that threatened Real Madrid and could have benefited them.

Juventus Finishing Issues

Yıldız and Kolo Muani demonstrated excellent chemistry, which enabled them to create one of the match’s most dangerous chances.

Thanks to their movements without the ball and their remarkable understanding, Kolo Muani found himself in a one-on-one situation with Courtois.

Nevertheless, Kolo Muani’s concentration and accurate finishing were lacking in this action, as it is very penalising to miss similar chances against Real Madrid.

Furthermore, Yıldız showed some promising signs in that match and confirmed that he is working on his talent to become a more influential team player.

Juventus Kenan Yıldız Chance

His penetration and dribbling abilities were notable on some occasions as he succeeded in surpassing his opponents with ease, thanks to his agility and dribbling skills.

With more work on finishing and on his shooting abilities, Yıldız can become much more helpful for Juventus in the upcoming season, knowing that Tudor will need to keep Yıldız central to his project.

Juventus Marking Problems

Defensively, numerous adjustments will need to be made ahead of the coming season, as the starting centre-backs’ positions are still unclear.

Making the necessary adjustments and fixing the three starting centre-backs will be fundamental for Juventus to build a solid defence and increase their complementarity and chemistry.

It is challenging to build a strong defensive line while constantly changing players.

The lack of understanding was apparent on numerous occasions in this match, and perhaps the most notable one was the conceded goal action during which Kalulu was obliged to switch from marking García to marking Rüdiger as he noticed that he was unmarked.

This led to García being left unmarked, which explains his ability to score a header freely.

This action lacked communication between Juventus’ defenders to fix the situation and awareness of the unmarked player quickly.

If Juventus’ players were attentive enough, one of them could have covered for Kalulu and marked García, Real Madrid’s striker.

The attention should not have been switched off him during such dangerous actions.

Conclusion

Real Madrid put on an overall convincing performance that can be considered an enriching experience for the players, and Alonso against a different opponent.

The match allowed them to identify their weaknesses and strengths further, and experiment with Alonso’s ideas, such as focusing on the wings and relying on shots from distance.

On the other hand, Juventus were eliminated from the competition, but became more aware of their defensive weaknesses and what they can build on from an attacking perspective.

They’ll be hoping to stabilise everything, including player choices, ahead of the new season.