Xabi Alonso’s first day at Real Madrid: Key focus in training

Real Madrid began a new era on Monday, with Xabi Alonso taking training for the first time as manager. After Carlo Ancelotti departed in late May, Alonso took the reins, and while Los Blancos have been moving in the transfer market, the work in earnest began on Monday on the training ground.

Alonso arrived at the training ground at 07:30am, despite the fact that his players were not due in until 10:00am. His first move was to meet and greet the players in the dressing room, and speak to them. During his opening conversation, he promised the players 200% from him and his staff, and in return demanded the same from them back, say Diario AS. The first training session was with minimum resources though.

Five fit senior players

Raul Asencio is technically still a Castilla player in terms of his registration, but he joined just four senior players in the suggestion that were completely fit; Dani Ceballos, Fran Garcia, Lucas Vazquez and Rodrygo Goes, all of which are not assured of their future. There were 15 first-team players present, but the other 10 were recovering from injuries.

It meant that Alonso turned to a total of 10 academy players to carry out his first training session. Dean Huijsen, Aurelien Tchouameni and Kylian Mbappe will be back on Tuesday, while Luka Modric, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jude Bellingham will return later in the week due to international duty.

Swift trip to the USA

Andriy Lunin, Arda Guler and Vinicius Junior will not be back before Los Blancos head to the United States for the Club World Cup, with their travel scheduled for Tuesday. Alonso has just five training sessions with his players before they travel, with their debut coming next Wednesday against Al-Hilal.

🫡 @XabiAlonso 👟 @adidasfootball pic.twitter.com/tgVYeinEbR

— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) June 9, 2025

Early tactical focus for Xabi Alonso

Alonso did not leave the training forund until 06:00pm, nearly 11 hours after arriving for work. He held a meeting to discuss the tactical setup with the staff that lasted several hours, and Marca say that the key focus in the training session was on playing with the ball and possession, and above all, bringing it out from the back. Alonso will have little time to alter things before his new side takes to the pitch.