A new chapter begins for Real Madrid and Xavi Alonso

The 2024/25 season was not a happy one for Real Madrid. The team suffered from injuries and the lack of adequate and skilled backup players.

Despite moving up the La Liga points table, they have now lost the top spot to Barcelona. A few days after losing to Arsenal in the Champions League, they lost to Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final.

Carlo Ancelotti is stepping down at the end of the season and will be replaced by former Real Madrid and Liverpool legend Xavi Alonso.

Xavi Alonso joined Bayer Leverkusen as coach in 2022, when the team was bottom of the Bundesliga. Under his leadership, the team won the Bundesliga title in the 2023–24 season and went on a 51-match unbeaten run. Bayer Leverkusen had an incredible journey that season. He mainly plays attacking football through passing and counter-attacking, using a 3-4-3 formation.

Real Madrid have been struggling in midfield since the departure of Toni Kroos. Luka Modric is old, so it is not possible to expect anything great from him. Xavi Alonso's formation needs a creative playmaker.

Real Madrid signed French footballer Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer this season, which gave the team and fans great hope at the start of the season. Vinicius Junior, Kylian Mbappe, Rodrygo, Bellingham gave Real Madrid hope for great things. But neither Real Madrid nor Vinicius Junior could maintain the attacking performance of last season. Vinicius' erratic performance has put Real on the backfoot.

Kylian Mbappe has scored 38 goals for Los Blancos in his debut season, the most in La Liga. He also holds the record for the most goals in a debut season in Real Madrid's history. He is even competing with Mohamed Salah for the European Golden Boot in Europe's top five leagues.

Even if Mbappe is given some credit for the attack, the less said about the defense, the better. There is not enough backup in defense, even bringing a midfield player down to the defense did not save Real Madrid. Carlo Ancelotti's one wrong decision after another has pushed Real to the edge of the abyss.

In defense, Alaba had to spend almost the entire season out due to injury. Rudiger could not play regularly due to injury. Dani Carvajal, one of the witnesses of many big victories of Real Madrid, was lost to Real Madrid long ago due to a very bad injury.

Real Madrid is definitely going to undergo a big change. They will buy strong backups in defense; they may buy some good players to strengthen the midfield. At the same time, Real Madrid may also say goodbye to some players who are prone to injuries and who have performed poorly.

Interestingly, Xavi Alonso was a Real Madrid player when Carlo Ancelotti, who brought Real Madrid their dream La Decima, i.e. their tenth Champions League, was in charge. Now, with Carlo Ancelotti's departure, it is Xavi Alonso who is coming to fill his place.

He won back-to-back Euros with Spain, won the first World Cup with Spain. He was part of the famous Istanbul tragedy with Liverpool. He won a Champions League with Liverpool and Real Madrid.

He has won the Bundesliga three times with Bayern Munich and the Spanish league once with Los Blancos. He has proven his worth as a great player and coach during his playing career with Bayer Leverkusen. Now it's his turn in Spain.

Fans are hoping that Xavi Alonso will help Real Madrid return to the top. Only time will tell how successful Xavi Alonso will be at Real Madrid. Under Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrid's dressing room was friendly and full of mature players. Xavi Alonso has a bunch of young players in his team. Can he bring the great Real Madrid back to the field?