These observations — where I look atReal Madrid’s history, its players on loan, Castilla, tactical tidbits, and other relevant thoughts — are now a regular thing. All previous editions can be foundhere.
WILL MBAPPE PRESS? It was a question I posed Xabi Alonso in today’s pre-game press conference in Miami ahead of Wednesday night’s match against Al Hilal. So much of the dialogue in the past year or so has been about Mbappe — a one-man offensive Armageddon — and his lack of pressing ability. There is that famous video footage of Luis Enrique giving Mbappe his best go at a motivational speech. “Even Michael Jordan pressed!” Lucho proclaimed. Since then, rounds have been made, including by Managing Madrid, that Mbappe just does not have pressing in his DNA.
Should it matter given how much he brings to the table offensively? Should players that score prolifically like Mbappe, Haaland, Ronaldo and Messi (the latter two, admittedly, clearly in their own stratosphere) be exempt of defensive over-exertion?
My personal feeling: Pressing can not be done unless all 11 players buy in. If one person is off the mark, the system collapses.
But I always err on the side of open-mindedness and acknowledgment that Real Madrid’s coaches are infinitely smarter than I. So I was curious what Xabi Alonso would say when I asked him about Mbappe’s pressing, and wether or not the claims that he is a defensive sieve are exaggerated.
“Well what I know is that nowadays you need a team that presses like a unit,” Alonso answered. “We have 11 individuals, we have to make them work together and do defensive work. Nowadays it’s so important, and, for sure it’s something we have to address. And so far in just a few days, we have tried to do it. And, for the short term — and for sure in the long term — it’s going to be very decisive in our performance.”
The tea leaves are pretty easy to read: Alonso needs Mbappe to buy into the collective. He didn’t outright say Mbappe can or can’t press, but it was obvious that for his system to work, he needs all 11 players to be synergistic behind the ball. If one domino falls, they all fall.
It is hyper-interesting to see what this all looks like on the field, starting tomorrow night. Alonso says all the right things. He emphasizes control. He emphasizes getting Bellingham in his best position. He talks about the tactical collective, the integration of new players. There is a certain intensity to the training sessions that we haven’t seen in years. I expect a more ‘rabid’ version of Real Madrid under Alonso.
“What we can’t be missing: a hunger to win, to compete, to want to play well.” Alonso said. “We have to combine many things, but that self-respect, that team spirit, that defending the badge... the team already has it, but we have to work at it. We have to be a team.
“There must be commitment, and everyone must be involved in every phase. I want a team that’s united; we’ve talked about it; because that will make things much easier for us. I’m sure that on the last day of the tournament we’ll be a better team than the one we started with, because we’ll be correcting things. The starting point is tomorrow; we’ll see where we end up.”
Here’s my question Xabi Alonso about Mbappe’s pressing. Posting transcript of his answer as well because the Spanish voice over makes it a bit difficult to decipher:
“Well what I know is that nowadays you need a team that presses like a unit. We have 11 individuals, we have to… pic.twitter.com/tyNmbQkPYZ
— Kiyan Sobhani (@KiyanSo) June 17, 2025
IS IT POSSIBLE for Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid to fail? It is a blasphemous question — almost disrespectful. And why ask it now, anyway? Why counteract the good energy that Alonso, plus new signings, have brought so far? But it’s a question that was asked to Managing Madrid on a recent mailbag podcast, and, even entertaining it here only has one purpose: to outline the reality of the team’s state.
My short answer, which I’ll explain at length throughout this article, is: ‘anything is possible, but failure is not likely’. What is failure, anyway? If the team plays scintillating football, pours its heart out on the field, and loses in a Champions League final via a penalty shootout, is that a failure? What’s more important is progression, a vision that builds in the right direction, and forming a team that meets the highest of standards. At Real Madrid, those standards are clear: build a dynasty; build a team that can win multiple European titles in a row. Repeat what Zinedine Zidane and Carlo Ancelotti did. Run it back, tweak, win again. And keep doing it.
Put it this way: It is, as close as impossible as it gets, for this team to be worse than last season. Real Madrid put together less than a handful of good games in the 2024-2025 campaign. The reason for that is not just because of big injuries, or just because of Carlo Ancelotti, or just this or just that (too many to name, and we’ve spent months outlining the issues); but the backline has finally been strengthened, and a coach with new ideas has arrived. Last season, the team’s ball progression and confusion in the build-up phase was apparent, as was the collective shape behind the ball. Last season, Carvajal’s injuries derailed the season.
The additions of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dean Huijsen, and Xabi Alonso make it hard to envision the team not improving, dramatically. People may underestimate how much a coach can improve a team, or how much of an impact ball-playing defenders could have under a coach whose bread-and-butter is deploying pressing triggers and getting up the field in a way that’s conducive to generating prolific offense which star forwards can feast on. People may also underestimate — and this is more of a personal hunch — how much Alonso sharpening Jude Bellingham’s role may impact the team on both ends of the field.
“He has the ability to cover a lot of ground, but he has to start from the right position,” Alonso said. “He has the soul of a midfielder, he likes to create, and he has the ability to reach the goal. We’ve talked about the starting point, but he’s very dynamic. “
IN THE 2024 - 2025 SEASON, Real Madrid generated an xG of 75.3 xG in La Liga, 16 less than champions Barcelona, a team that outscored Ancelotti’s men by 24 goals total. Remarkably, Real Madrid’s offensive numbers were higher than those of the season before (xG of 68.8) when they won the league.
But those numbers are a bit deceiving. Real Madrid won the league with fewer goals in the 2023 - 2024 season because their defense was much better, and, they didn’t have to go up against the best Barcelona team in the post-Messi era. Barcelona posted a freakish 102 goals — the most by any La Liga team since Barcelona scored 116 goals in the 2016 - 2017 season.
This is where Xabi Alonso’s challenge comes in. Real Madrid are riding their worst season in five years, and are going up against a Barcelona team, at least on paper, that is just getting started — bar a massive sophomore slump which is a common enough scenario in sports to at least contemplate.
But Barcelona is not Real Madrid’s problem. Real Madrid’s problem is themselves. They have to elevate their game for the entirety of the season — not just against their main title competitors. Last season, Real Madrid dropped points against Real Sociedad, Valencia, Real Betis, Osasuna, Atletico Madrid twice, Espanyol, Rayo Vallecano, Athletic Club, Las Palmas, and Mallorca. In Europe, they were blown away by Arsenal, Liverpool, and Milan. In the span of one week in Autumn, they had as many losses (two) as they did in the entire previous campaign.
15 teams took points off of Real Madrid in major competitions, and many who didn’t, still exposed several cracks in the scheme. The long list shows how inconsistent (or consistently poor) Real Madrid were. Once Barcelona rolled around, they were the team that magnified the flaws in the most dramatic way. Alonso’s job is to elevate the offense, defense, and mental state — to improve the consistency of the team, raise the floor and ceiling, and to bring back the fundamentals and domination that a team like Real Madrid should flow with. Once that is achieved, Barcelona rolling to town shouldn’t matter as much.
“The boss has talked about having an identity,” Dani Ceballos said Tuesday morning in Miami. “At Madrid, we have to know how we play. He hasn’t had much time to work, but tomorrow we begin a new era.”
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There is a big difference between the cards Alonso is dealt than the ones Ancelotti was dealt with. Real Madrid will go from zero right-backs to two world class ones. Dani Carvajal is already back. Lucas Vazquez now turns into Trent Alexander-Arnold and Carvajal. To put it politely, that is, um, and upgrade.
“For any coach, it’s a privilege to have players of that caliber in a position,” Alonso said when asked about the starting right-back position. “Trent is more versatile... and with Carvajal, we’re eager for him to return. But I can say that Trent’s impact, so far, has been very good. This whole issue is a real pain.”
Alonso also welcomes back Eder Militao and David Alaba to join Raul Asencio, Antonio Rüdiger, and newly arrived Dean Huijsen. There are 14 defenders total taken to the United States for the Club World Cup. Knock on wood, numbers remain strong. The only relatively shaky position heading into this summer’s tournament is left-back, where Ferland Mendy and Eduardo Camavinga are still not 100% recovered, and Fran Garcia remains the most viable option.
It’s hard to understate just how intriguing this tournament is from a pure Real Madrid perspective. Rarely has there been this many questions, so little answers, and so much interest in the machinations of Xabi Alonso’s set-up.
While much of the tournament so far, in this author’s opinion, has been pretty drab. The opener was entertaining enough despite the scoreline and Palmeiras fans brought some oxygen to the stale atmosphere, but Bayern and PSG beating up Aukland and Atletico Madrid hasn’t truly hit home on the entertainment from. Xabi’s Madrid is expected to bring some punch.
Real Madrid CF Training Session And Press Conference - FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Xabi Alonso spoke to Managing Madrid about Real Madrid’s collective press
Photo by Carmen Mandato - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images
Real Madrid’s run should be exciting for the mystique alone. The first three games will be good ‘feelers’ for questions like: Where will Jude Bellingham be deployed? What ideas does Alonso have for Vinicius and Mbappe? What’s Mbappe’s role? Tchouameni and Valverde? Güler? Is Rodrygo part of the overarching plan? What formation suits best? How tight is the rotation? These are not pre-season games, so shuffling through a bunch of Castilla players or giving charity minutes is not on the table. If Real Madrid blitz through the first two games and guarantee top position, Alonso may be more willing to experiment in the final group stage game. These are all hypotheticals.
Beyond those aforementioned questions, I will outline some things I’ll be excited to see, namely how the team, with its new pieces, functions in the build-up phase. A lot of dialogue in the past year has been about Real Madrid not replacing Toni Kroos. Trent and Huijsen are not direct Kroos replacements, but they fill the void indirectly.
Under Arne Slot, Trent took up an inverted right-back role in possession, meaning he drifted into central midfield to help with ball progression. Both Huijsen and Trent can play quarter-back from deep and punish teams who play a high line against the Vinicius-Mbappe dyad. Real Madrid didn’t have that luxury last season beyond rare Rüdiger slings or Valverde taking the onus on his shoulders. Kroos was that guy.
“I don’t know (how long this will take), but we’ve been working on this project since day one,” Alonso explained. “And I’m very happy with the squad, with the signings. Huijsen and Trent are great players, people who don’t need a lot of training or a lot of theory. They learn quickly. A process is underway, and we’ll start tomorrow.”
What remains certain, even if Real Madrid come out of the gates lights out in their first three games, it means very little other than it bringing excitement. The sample size will be small. Bigger tests come later. Fans can’t get carried away one way or another.