Xabi Alonso appointed Real Madrid manager ahead of Club World Cup

Xabi Alonso will be the next manager of Real Madrid.

The Spaniard reunites with the club he spent five illustrious years at as a player, replacing Carlo Ancelotti in the Santiago Bernabeu hot seat following the Italian’s appointment as Brazil manager.

He will take charge of Los Blancos on a three-year deal ahead of the Club World Cup, which will be left vacant by Ancelotti immediately after the final day of the La Liga season.

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Alonso joins Real Madrid after a stellar run as Bayer Leverkusen boss, leading the club to a famous league and cup double during a remarkable unbeaten domestic season in 2023/24.

The 43-year-old was one game away from making that a historic undefeated treble as the club looked to add the Europa League to their Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal titles, but Ademola Lookman scored a hat-trick in Dublin as Atalanta won the final 3-0.

Nevertheless, Alonso accomplished an incredible turnaround at the BayArena – when he was appointed in October 2022 Leverkusen were in the Bundesliga relegation zone after their worst start to a season since 1979.

After propelling them up the table in his debut season and earning European qualification, Alonso embarked on a 35-game Bundesliga unbeaten streak as the club won the first top-flight title in their history.

He’ll now hope to bring silverware back to Real Madrid, who went trophyless for only the second time in 15 years last term.

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Alonso has experience of lifting major honours in Real colours, winning La Liga in 2012 and the Champions League in 2014, when they beat city rivals Atletico in the final.

Both competitions went awry for the Galacticos in an underwhelming final season under Ancelotti, with a capitulant El Clasico display acting as the final nail in the coffin to their league title aspirations.

Alonso’s first game in charge will be against Al-Hilal at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium in the Club World Cup group stage, before facing Pachuca and Red Bull Salzburg in their remaining group fixtures.