Real Madrid Vs Al-Hilal [1-1] Club World Cup 2025: Xabi Alonso’s First Hurdle – Tactical Analysis

The Xabi Alonso era at Real Madrid did not get off to the best of starts, but there were some promising signs in their opening match of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup against Al-Hilal. 

Of course, we have to sit back and remember this is a Club World Cup, and the players, for lack of a better term, looked exhausted playing in the extreme humidity of Miami in June. 

Xabi Alonso demonstrated his versatility during his time at Bayer Leverkusen.

Die Werkself didn’t suddenly become an invincible team overnight.

It took Alonso time to build the foundation and for the players to buy into Leverkusens strategy for the team to win multiple trophies.

The same is true about Real Madrid. 

There are also many new players joining Alonsos Los Blancos.

Dean Huijsen and Trent Alexander-Arnold made their debuts in this match, while Gonzalo García started as a striker, with Kylian Mbappé absent due to illness. 

The biggest question for Xabi Alonso is whether he can turn Real Madrid into an elite pressing team. 

According to Opta, Carlo Ancelotti’s team finished eighth in LaLiga in terms of high turnovers, and on too many occasions, players were not fully committed to pressing high up the pitch, which meant Real Madrid were played through quite easily at times. 

Because Mbappé and Vinicius Jr. don’t do much defensive work, Ancelotti favoured Real Madrid playing a 4-4-2 low block, but elite teams like Arsenal and Barcelona easily figured them out. 

For Alonso to transform Real Madrid into an elite out-of-possession team, there will have to be incremental steps taken to achieve this goal.

It started on Wednesday in Miami. 

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Real Madrid Out Of Possession

This game was also Simone Inzaghi’s first as Al-Hilal manager, and I am sure he knew Alonso was going to try to press their build-up.

Right away, he had goalkeeper Bono go long to the wide areas, where he set up a 2v1 against Fran García. 

From there, they were able to flick a header on and create a dangerous attack using a very simple technique.