Real Madrid do not wait. On Saturday, an era at the white club comes to an end with the farewell of Carlo Ancelotti, Luka Modrić and Lucas Vázquez, and just forty-eight hours later a new chapter will begin—this time led by Xabi Alonso as the man at the helm of the Madrid ship, amid the sense that a revolution is coming in terms of squad building, starting with the change of captain’s armband, which will be handed over to Dani Carvajal.
The new Real Madrid head coach will be officially presented on Monday morning at the pavilion of the Valdebebas training complex. He arrives with a three-year contract ahead of him to prove what he has already shown at Bayer Leverkusen—namely, to make history with the white club, something he already achieved as a player.
Getting down to work
Although he has already been “working” for several weeks on what his team will look like, Xabi Alonso knows that a tough challenge lies ahead: achieving a strong result at the Club World Cup. And he is fully aware that this means winning the FIFA-organized tournament in the United States, which kicks off on June 14.
Florentino Pérez will stand alongside the new coach and will help shape the return of the former first-team player and Real Madrid academy coach, before he took the step of moving to Real Sociedad’s reserve team. He knows the club inside out and will also come across former teammates such as Carvajal and Modrić—though in the Croatian’s case, only for the tournament in the United States.
With four assistants
As previously reported by MARCA, Xabi Alonso arrives on the Real Madrid bench accompanied by as many as four assistants. Sebas Parrilla will remain by his side as assistant head coach. Alberto Encinas will also join the first team as part of Alonso’s coaching staff.
Physical preparation will be overseen by Ismael Camenforte López. He began at Barça B, then moved on to New York City FC and Denmark, before arriving at Leverkusen in 2021. Antonio Pintus, until now the first team’s fitness coach, will also continue working with the squad at the club’s express request. Beñat Labaien will also join as an assistant coach, having previously worked at Zaragoza alongside Miguel Ángel Ramírez.
Source: Marca