Alonso welcomes his first Madrid derby in his coaching career, never won against Simeone before

Hupu September 26th This season, Real Madrid coached by Alonso performed strongly at the beginning. Currently, it not only ranked first in the La Liga standings, but also won the first game of the Champions League in the new season. After Ancelotti leaves office this summer, the Spanish young coach takes over as the team's head coach and will usher in the first important derby of his coaching career.

This Saturday, the highly anticipated Madrid derby will kick off at the Metropolitan Stadium, and Atletico Madrid will face the city's mortal enemy at home. Although Alonso, 43, had faced the Red and White teams many times during his player age, this is his first time participating in a derby as a head coach.

The record against Atletico Madrid during his time was steady

Alonso's first match against Atletico Madrid dates back to 2000. After joining Real Sociedad's youth training camp for one year, the talented midfielder was loaned to Eibar and accumulated experience in the Spanish Second Division. It was during his time at Atletico Eibar that he met Atletico Madrid, who had just been transferred to the Spanish Second Division, and finally helped the Basque team draw 1-1 away.

With Alonso returning to Real Sociedad, Atletico Madrid successfully returned to La Liga two years later, which also allowed the Real Madrid coach to start more head-on confrontations with Atletico Madrid. Before transferring to Liverpool, Alonso led the Blue and White team to win three games in four matches with Atletico Madrid. He then continued his legend at Liverpool. He played for the Reds and met Atletico again in the 2008-09 Champions League group stage, and both matches ended with a score of 1-1.

In 2009, Alonso returned to Spain to join Real Madrid and played in the Madrid derby for the first time. In this German comparison at Calderon Stadium, Real Madrid finally won 3-2. It is worth mentioning that the former defensive midfielder has always maintained an unbeaten record in the Madrid derby in La Liga. He has represented Real Madrid in a total of 9 league derbys against Atletico Madrid in his career, and helped the team win 8 of them.

However, during his time at Bayern Munich, Alonso's performance against Atletico Madrid was different. Bayern lost 2 of his three games against Atletico Madrid. Looking at Alonso's career as a player, he has played against Atletico Madrid in a total of 26 times in various competitions, achieving a record of 16 wins, 5 draws and 5 losses.

Coaching career After winning brilliant results against Simeone while not winning the game, Alonso chose to start his coaching career from Real Madrid Youth Training Camp. He then switched to Real Sociedad's B team to coach, and then started his overseas coaching experience, becoming the head coach of Leverkusen in October 2022. In the fifth game of coaching this Bundesliga team, Alonso ushered in a showdown with Atletico Madrid.

Before that match started, Alonso highly praised the opponent coach Simeone at a press conference: "I was deeply inspired by Simeone's sincerity and ability to communicate with the team. In this regard, he is one of the best coaches. He knows how to make players understand their tactical intentions. There are countless tactical concepts in the football world, but when it comes to player management, the talents he showed are exemplary."

The game ended with a 2-2 draw, but the two teams met again in the 7th round of the Champions League stage last season. Leverkusen defender In Capier scored first before halftime, but Alvarez scored twice in the second half to help Atletico Madrid reverse the game 2-1.

As of now, Alonso has faced Atletico Madrid twice as a coach, only 1 draw and 1 loss, and still has no wins. The answer is yet to be revealed in the Madrid derby this Saturday, whether he can win his first victory in his coaching career against Atletico Madrid.