Superstar left, concept right: Alonso

Florentino has seen a new chapter in history. The Real Madrid president has naturally seen all the archival images of his predecessor, the Bernabeu, who won the first European Champions League (the predecessor of the Champions League) in 1956, and now he is eager to emulate this feat by winning the first new version of the Club World Cup. Perez has been making a high-profile statement that this is in line with Real Madrid's grand ambition.

However, in order to achieve this goal, he also had to face the present and the future. He realized that Real Madrid had to change, and not just the head coaching candidate. The team's football philosophy itself also needs innovation.

Florentino has long insisted that Ancelotti's successor must be Xavi Alonso, mainly based on the advice of his more professional football management (such as chief scout Carafate). Florentino then became more firm in his belief that Alonso must take over the team before the Club World Cup. If Ancelotti's cycle is over, Real Madrid must ensure that the team is ready and well-run in this unique historic moment. Alonso is willing to accept the coach position, but there is one condition: Real Madrid must ensure that certain signings are completed this summer.

But not all goals are in place, which brings another challenge. Alonso had only three chances to practice with the full lineup before the Club World Cup started. Because of this, this event has been given a more fascinating highlight.

The core is: Can Alonso implant a set of modern tactical ideas into a club that traditionally resists such thinking? In this sense, Real Madrid has always been the opposite of Barcelona. They have never been a club that "head coach first", let alone "ideas first". As an opponent's club executive said: "You can almost feel that they would rather not coach." At Real Madrid, superstars always drive everything, and Ancelotti's ability to "serve" superstars is the main reason why he became the longest-serving head coach in Real Madrid's history after Munos, who was personally appointed by the Bernabeu.

Muñoz's experience may be inspiring: he himself played for Real Madrid for 14 years and won the Champions League twice, and was one of the great players of the club. He even scored Real Madrid's first goal in the history of the European Champions League in 1955 and naturally became the first member of the Champions League championship team.

Zidane is another legend similar to it. Although he won three Champions Leagues as the head coach, he is often derogatory as a "clap coach" (meaning just encouragement). In other words, he just allowed his inherent talent to be used. Tony Cross and Modric are really implanting ideas in Real Madrid. At least one thing is very striking: their partner period completely coincides with Real Madrid's modern Champions League dynasty, although this dynasty began in 2014, when Alonso himself was at Cross's position.

Therefore, the 43-year-old Alonso is not only a rare "ideological" coach appointed by Real Madrid, but also a "ideological" coach who has outstanding resumes in the era of players to endorse his ideas. This is both the key to Real Madrid's transformation of its football style and an element that the club has always had to succeed. The 2024-25 season seems to show that even Ancelotti's classic "governance by doing nothing" approach is weakening, especially at a time when individualism no longer brings significant advantages as it used to be. A relative freedom is returning to a less dogmatic game. Alonso himself represents a new trend: applying Guardiola's principles, but more pragmatic and adaptable.

He now has to tailor a system for Real Madrid's current stars, but at this moment the locker room seems to be rising in self-ism, and the lineup is not reasonable. The most obvious problem is: the two best attackers, Vinicius and Mbappe, both perform best in the left winger position.

Alonso's plan is not to bypass this problem. Training and analysis so far show that the Basque coach hopes to adopt a 4-4-2 formation and can switch to 3-4-1-2. Mbappe and Vinicius will serve as double strikers. That's why Rodrigo will be allowed to transfer, and the team will no longer need such a pure wing player. Alonso intends to give the full-back a width, which is what makes signing Arnold particularly reasonable.

If this move could lead to overexposed two centre-backs, the solution is to have one midfield retracement fill. This in turn explains why Real Madrid is so frustrated that Arsenal has the lead in Suvimenti's transfer. To make matters worse, Suvimenti is seen as the future of the Spanish national team. Real Madrid will most likely have to look for targets elsewhere. Although all this makes sense at least on paper, Alonso's coaching philosophy is obviously much more than the arrangement of the player's position. The core lies in the sense of rhythm, transposition coordination and tacit understanding, which all require time to instill.

Garcia Gomez is a Spanish coach and currently an assistant coach at Galatasaray, recognized as one of the smartest analysts. He thinks it's hard for Real Madrid to find someone better than Alonso, especially in what they want to do.

"I look forward to (Real Madrid) stronger tactical discipline and stronger control over the game," he said. "The challenge is of course not only to win, but also to implement a style that has never been seen in Real Madrid's history. It's more like Conte, Barcelona or Manchester City. Alonso would want a well-known style that people say 'This is Real Madrid'." The key question now is: to what extent and quickly can he implant this style into the team? How many points can we actually see in the Club World Cup? Especially for a club that has never had such a style, will the necessary "educational process" itself prevent Florentino from achieving his ambitions?