Xabi Alonso and Real Madrid: Learning from Jose Mourinho, two shock exits and a timely return

Sports

add

Xabi Alonso’s appointment as Real Madrid’s new first-team head coach makes so much sense due to his deep connection at the Bernabeu.

The 43-year-old former midfielder is returning to a club he knows well. As a Madrid player from 2009-14, he made 236 appearances and helped the Spanish side win the Champions League, La Liga and two Copas del Rey.

Alonso also spent a year working as a youth coach in Madrid’s La Fabrica academy as part of a carefully thought-out career plan, with the possibility of returning to the club for the first-team job always present.

The 114-time Spain international’s political skills and charisma also helped as he twice left the Bernabeu, as player and then coach, while still remaining on good terms with the club’s influential president, Florentino Perez.

That familiarity with how things work at Madrid, on and off the pitch, should help Alonso settle quickly into his new role, with a first challenge coming when the Club World Cup kicks off in the United States in mid-June. This is how his relationship with the club has developed over the years.

Alonso first joined Madrid from Liverpool for €35million (£29m/$39m at current exchange rates) in summer 2009, just after Perez returned for his second spell as their president. He was one of several new stars who joined in that transfer window, including galacticos Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Kaka.

The idea was for Madrid to compete against Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Barcelona side.

Alonso was a key figure in midfield as a team managed by Jose Mourinho beat Barca, their arch-rivals, in a fiery Copa del Rey final in April 2011 and then claimed the 2011-12 La Liga title with a record 100 points and 121 goals (Barcelona equalled that points total the following season).

Yet Mourinho’s attritional style, especially in games against Guardiola’s side, did not please everyone at Madrid. Many were aghast at his scathing attacks on referees and UEFA, European football’s governing body, while poking then-Barca assistant Tito Vilanova in the eye during an August 2011 Clasico was seen by some as going against the capital-city club’s traditional values of dignity and class.

Senior figures in the Bernabeu dressing room, including Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos, rebelled against their coach, but Alonso and his former Liverpool colleague Alvaro Arbeloa remained loyal ‘soldiers’ under Mourinho through it all.

“As a professional, I’m learning a lot from Mourinho,” Alonso told Basque outlet ETB in November 2012, as reported by El Mundo, at the height of these tensions. “He’s very demanding and careful with all the details. People only know the face he shows externally. I know the other side of him, from inside.”

Alonso with Mourinho in 2011 (Sean Dempsey/PA Images via Getty Images)

Alonso was also a key member of the 2013-14 Madrid team, as the more diplomatic and reasonable approach of Mourinho’s Italian replacement Carlo Ancelotti healed those dressing-room divisions.

Although he missed the Champions final victory over Atletico Madrid in Lisbon due to suspension, Alonso famously raced down the sideline in his suit to celebrate Gareth Bale’s crucial extra-time goal, as Madrid lifted the long-awaited Decima — their 10th European Cup/Champions League.

Alonso, then 32, had signed a new contract the previous January. But in late August he made a shock exit to join Bayern Munich.

“These have been five marvellous years,” Alonso said at his Bernabeu farewell. “Leaving Real Madrid has been the most difficult decision of my life. But you must know when to say goodbye. A new cycle is starting. To be at my best, I need a change.”

Some at Madrid found the departure, to join Guardiola’s squad in Munich, difficult to understand. Perez explained to club socios or members at the time that Alonso asked him “as a favour” to let him leave. Ancelotti said in his 2016 book ‘Quiet Leadership: winning hearts, minds and matches’ that it was “the president’s decision” to accept Bayern’s €10million (£8.4m/$11.3m at current rates) offer.

Whatever really happened, Alonso’s relationship with the centre of power at the Bernabeu was not damaged.

Twelve months after retiring as a player in summer 2017, Alonso took his first steps in coaching with a role at Madrid’s youth academy.

His Infantil A (Under-14s) team won 22 and drew one of their first 23 games to easily top their league in his first season. Even at Madrid, whose stature means they attract the very best local youngsters, it was a standout achievement.

When the legendary Madrid striker Raul moved from coaching Madrid’s under-18s to take over their Castilla reserve side, Alonso was earmarked for that vacancy. But instead he accepted an offer to return to Real Sociedad, where he started his playing career in his native Basque region of Spain, to coach their B team in Spain’s senior third tier.

“It was not easy to leave Madrid,” Alonso admitted at his presentation back in San Sebastian. “I liked it a lot there, but you always think about what is coming, not what you’ve left behind. Time will tell if it was the right decision, but I’m very excited about it.”

The move was part of a considered career plan from Alonso, who was joined by his brother and former Bolton Wanderers player Mikel in working in the club’s widely-admired Zubieta youth system. He also invited experienced Argentine youth coach Sebastian Parrilla from Madrid’s La Fabrica academy to be his assistant as he led a side mostly made up of youngsters from the local Guipuzcoa province.

Alonso guided Real Sociedad B out of the 102-team third tier in his second season — another fine achievement. That attracted admirers elsewhere, with Borussia Monchengladbach of Germany and Sevilla among the clubs to offer him a first top-flight job. But even as his former Spain team-mate Xavi and ex-Liverpool colleague Steven Gerrard were by then managing top-flight teams in Barcelona and England’s Aston Villa, he was in no rush.

“Starting out with (Madrid’s) infantiles, now with (Real Sociedad’s) youth team, is helping me to know myself, to correct things, to make mistakes,” Alonso told The Athletic in 2021. “Maybe (at La Real) you’ve a bit more margin (for error).”

The call Alonso accepted came from another German side, Bayer Leverkusen, in October 2022. According to sources familiar with his thinking who, like all consulted for this article requested anonymity to speak openly, they were seen as an ideal stepping stone — a “university” where he could again pick up more experience and hone his ideas while preparing for other, even bigger, jobs.

When Leverkusen overcame serial champions Bayern Munich to win the Bundesliga and also lifted the DFB-Pokal (German football’s domestic cup) to complete an unbeaten 2023-24 domestic season, while also reaching the Europa League final, Alonso was catapulted onto the radars of Europe’s top clubs — including the three he formerly played for. His representatives held talks with Bayern and Liverpool, and the feeling was that he could have had either job if he wanted. But again, Alonso showed composure and patience, knowing there would likely soon be a vacancy back at Madrid.

When Ancelotti’s team ended 2023-24 by winning both La Liga and the Champions League final, Alonso was happy to stay another year with Leverkusen, gaining more experience.

“For Xabi, the moment of taking a job is really important,” a person who knows him well says.

During his years away from the Bernabeu, Alonso never lost his connection to the club and city, although the fallout from the Mourinho feuds lingered on.

Six months after leaving for Bayern, Alonso called his new team-mate Manuel Neuer the best goalkeeper he had ever played with “by far” in an interview with Sport Bild, as reported by Sport, which was viewed as a slight against former Madrid and Spain great Casillas.

“I’m not interested in what Xabi Alonso says,” Casillas responded in an interview with Cadena Cope, as quoted by Marca. “In recent years, the relationship has not been right, but it can happen. At Madrid, we are asked to win trophies, and we’ve done that.”

Such a scene would not have done Alonso’s reputation any damage with the Bernabeu hierarchy. Perez continued to like Mourinho’s style of management, and especially his way of defending the club’s interests. In summer 2015, Casillas left the club himself, in awkward circumstances (although the former ’keeper has more recently returned as a club ambassador).

Ancelotti coached Alonso at Madrid and Bayern (Angel Martinez/Real Madrid via Getty Images)

While in Germany, Alonso also kept his connection to the Spanish capital by working with agency Best of You, which also represents Madrid figures such as Figo, Casemiro, Roberto Carlos and Arbeloa, and has offices right across from the Bernabeu.

In March 2019, after Madrid had struggled under first Julen Lopetegui and then Santiago Solari, well-connected reporters claimed that Perez favoured a “dream team” of Mourinho and Alonso, to return to the club as manager and assistant respectively. But it never happened, with Zinedine Zidane instead coming back for a second spell on the bench.

Alonso also maintained a strong relationship with Ancelotti — his coach at Bayern in 2016-17 after Guardiola joined Manchester City, with the pair keeping in contact afterwards.

“Sometimes you speak with your old managers, but they’re very busy,” Alonso told The Athletic in November 2021. “When Carlo returned to Madrid, I spoke with him, but you wouldn’t be bothering them after every game.”

Over the past 18 months, Alonso emerged as Ancelotti’s likely successor. The now 65-year-old has known since at least last February that Madrid were talking to Alonso’s representatives. Sources familiar with Ancelotti’s thinking say their good personal relationship will not be affected.

There will be plenty of familiar faces around Madrid’s Valdebebas training complex as Alonso now settles back in.

Club captain Dani Carvajal is still around from his time as a Madrid player (as well as Luka Modric and Lucas Vazquez, but only for the Club World Cup, after which they are both leaving). Alonso built an enduring relationship with David Alaba during three seasons as team-mates at Bayern. Young centre-back Jacobo Ramon, 20, a member of Alonso’s Infantil A side seven years back, is now in the senior squad.

La Fabrica veteran Parrilla is also returning as a key member of Alonso’s staff. The recent news that veteran fitness coach Antonio Pintus could remain as the first team’s physical trainer looks like a sign of Alonso accepting how things work at the Bernabeu, given the old-school Italian is a firm favourite of club president Perez.

One of Alonso’s closest friends in football will also be close by. Having guided Madrid’s Juvenil A (Under-18) side to their championship this season, Arbeloa is being tipped to replace Raul as coach of the Castilla second-team next term.

The past decade has seen others who had previously played and/or coached at Madrid quickly find themselves overwhelmed after being appointed as their first-team coach. Although neither Rafa Benitez nor Lopetegui had Alonso’s charisma or status from their playing careers, both struggled with the media and the political elements of the job.

A big challenge for any Madrid coach during Perez’s presidency is to publicly defend the club against perceived enemies all around — in the media, at La Liga, UEFA and even the Ballon d’Or organisers. Those who know Alonso say he can handle that aspect of his new role. He is unlikely to follow Mourinho’s line of fanning flames, instead showing more of Ancelotti’s charm in attempting to dampen down fires.

“Xabi’s style is not to be controversial,” says someone who has known him since he played for Real Sociedad. “He’s matured since then,” said another source close to former Madrid team-mates, when reminded of the turmoil of the Mourinho era.

“Intelligent” is a word that often comes up when discussing Alonso — both from those who have maintained excellent relationships with him, and those for whom their time working together ended awkwardly.

That intelligence can be seen in how Alonso’s various teams have played, how he relates to players, and also how he maintained his relationship with Madrid so he emerged as the only realistic candidate to succeed Ancelotti.

It also gives him every chance of success in one of the most difficult and pressurised coaching jobs in world football.

(Top photo: Alonso playing for Madrid in 2011 by Elisa Estrada/Real Madrid via Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

Real Madrid announce Xabi Alonso as new head coach

Carlo Ancelotti - English

Next

trending_flat

So lange läuft sein Vertrag – Real verkündet Alonso-Verpflichtung

Ancelotti Carlo