Everything seems perfect on paper. The arrival of Xabi Alonso on the Real Madrid bench is greeted by all. He knows the club, pressure, and he comes out of a successful passage to Bayer Leverkusen. He has ideas, legitimacy, talent. The workforce is a assembly of global stars: MbappĂ©, VinĂcius, Bellingham … what could happen to evil? A former club player, who knew Alonso on the field, nevertheless pointed out the only flaw, the only grain of sand that could seize this machine to win.
Sneijder reveals the trap to avoid for Xabi Alonso
This voice is that of Wesley Sneijder. The Dutchman, who shared (briefly in 2009) the Madrid wardrobe with the Spaniard, is confident. “Xabi is very intelligent. I think he will succeed in Madrid ”,
he said. But he immediately added a crucial warning, a warning that sounds obvious for anyone who has already set foot in a wardrobe of this caliber. The only problem? “If the egos are not well managed. »»
So. The word is released. Alonso's real challenge will not be tactical, but human. How to make MbappĂ© and VinĂcius cohabit? How to convince world stars to “play for the team, and not for themselves”? How to get them to accept the “sacrifice”? Sneijder says it clearly: “It is up to the coach to make it work. This is where, and only there, that the success of his project will be played out.
“If the egos are not managed …”: the warning of an old merengue to Xabi Alonso
Men's work, more than players
After a white season and a disappointing club World Cup, Real has already started its site. Modrić's departure left a vacuum of experience. The Rodrygo case must be settled. You have to find defense solutions, a lining to Alexander-Arnold. But all of these technical adjustments are nothing alongside the psychological challenge that awaits Alonso.
We know the song in these clubs. We stack the “galactics”, we focus on the names that shine, and we sometimes forget that they are men before being players. Xabi Alonso, by his past as a player at the highest level, has the advantage of knowing it. He knew the most complicated changing rooms, the most tense cohabitations. He knows that the most beautiful tactics are worth nothing if men do not shoot in the same direction. Its real test will therefore not be on the blackboard, but in the heads.
