Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid reign kicks off with Wednesday’s Club World Cup opener against Al-Hilal, and the former Liverpool midfielder is already under pressure.
The 43-year-old Spaniard has been hampered by minimal preparation, with injuries and international duty dictating that his first training session earlier this month featured only three senior players.
So time is working against the ex-Bayer Leverkusen boss’ hopes of making an instant impact on a team that looked lost towards the end of predecessor Carlo Ancelotti’s long spell in charge.
But that doesn’t mean Alonso will be granted the luxury of patience.
After cutting his managerial teeth with Real Sociedad’s reserve team, Alonso moved to Germany and broke Bayern Munich’s 11-year stranglehold on the Bundesliga.
Leading Leverkusen to their first league title convinced Real president Florentino Perez that Alonso – who made 236 appearances for Los Blancos between 2009 and 2014 – is ready to return and reinvigorate a tired team.
And Perez is not alone in that view. Former Real and Spain winger Victor Sanchez del Amo is among those greatly impressed – but not particularly surprised – by Alonso’s exploits to date.
Del Amo points out that Alonso played under an array of the modern era’s greatest coaches: Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho at Real; Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich; Rafa Benitez at Liverpool; Vicente del Bosque and Luis Aragones with the Spanish national team.
“Xabi has learned from some of the best coaches in history, so he can take all their ideas and mix them together,” he told BBC Sport.
“He also had a strong influence at home during his childhood, because his father Periko was a great player for Real Sociedad.
“Even as a player, you knew Xabi would become a manager because he was like a coach on the pitch.”
However, there is also a warning – success is expected to come instantly.
“For Real Madrid, every title is important,” warned Del Amo, who came through Real’s youth ranks to win La Liga and the Champions League before becoming a legend at Deportivo La Coruna, taking another league title in 2000.
“Real is the club with the most international titles in the world. Every time they play a competition, the target is to win it. It’s a very difficult club.
“Already in Spain they are saying there’s a bad omen for Xabi because you have to go back to Del Bosque [who led Real to the Champions League in 2002] to find a successful Spanish coach at the Bernabeu.
“So they are putting that kind of pressure on him.”
Leading his team to a world title might sound like an unfair demand on a new manager just a handful of weeks after his arrival. But at Real Madrid, handling those expectations is part of the job.
Alonso has stated his priority is establishing personal relationships with his players, and Del Amo believes he holds a major advantage in this respect because the new boss is 23 years younger than Ancelotti.
“Xabi is closer to the generation of the current players,” explained Del Amo, who currently coaches in Slovenia and won last season’s title with Olimpija Ljubljana.
“This is an asset for a coach in terms of man-management. He can be closer to the players. It creates a better link.
“His players all have memories of Xabi performing at the highest level. They know he was one of the best long passers of all time.
“That will help him create the right mindset for the players to believe in their coach and follow his path.”
Tactically, one riddle for Alonso to tackle is the positioning of star forwards Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe, who like to operate in similar areas and often looked incompatible during their first season together.
Improving a defence which was greatly hampered by injuries over the past couple of years is another major task – and here an England international will play a key role.
Alonso has been granted summer reinforcements, with Real sticking to their policy of capturing young talent by signing 20-year-old Spain centre-back Dean Huijsen from Bournemouth, and 17-year-old Franco Mastantuono – the youngest player to feature in a competitive match for Argentina – from River Plate.
An exception, of course, is Trent Alexander-Arnold, a comparative veteran at 26, who has completed his move from Liverpool in time for the Club World Cup and is expected to make his debut on Wednesday.
The early indications are that Alonso will attempt to recreate the three-man defensive line which brought him so much success at Leverkusen, with most of the team’s width coming from wing-backs.
This should suit Alexander-Arnold perfectly, but his place in the team is by no means guaranteed, with club legend Dani Carvajal returning to fitness after missing nearly the whole of last season through injury.
Alonso’s tactical approach might take a while to unfold, but his first challenge is to restore the unshakeable levels of confidence traditionally associated with Real Madrid.
It might sound strange for a squad packed with glittering stars, but self-belief looked in short supply as Real finished last season trailing Barcelona domestically – and meekly exiting the Champions League against Arsenal.
Del Amo sympathises with the task facing Alonso, saying: “Making the players continue to believe is the hardest thing,” he says.
“Because belief in football is not for just one day – you have to make the players believe every single day.
“Like anyone else, footballers have ups and downs in their emotional mood. So the hardest job for a coach is to keep them emotionally balanced and motivated.”
Lifting the mood by decisively beating Al-Hilal on Alonso’s Real debut is essential.
