In his first six months as Real Madrid manager, Xabi Alonso has made several important changes to how things work at the club, including measures to increase secrecy around the first team.
He wants to create a new internal culture, one that leaves him and his coaching staff with greater control over what happens at the training ground, as well as at the Bernabeu. And he has the club’s support in that.
The latest example came when Alonso and his staff decided they would not train at Anfield before Tuesday’s Champions League match against Liverpool.
Speaking in his post-match press conference following Saturday’s 4-0 win against Valencia, the 43-year-old said: “We have to prepare for the game and we prefer to do so at our training ground, in our own space, so that we are not surrounded by 200 cameras.”
Confidentiality and concentration. That has been the message to players since late May, as Alonso and his team have implemented a series of new rules in the dressing room they inherited.
They felt these changes were important and necessary. One source close to Alonso’s staff — speaking anonymously to protect relationships, like all those cited here — previously told The Athletic that “many bad habits” had taken hold, and they needed rectifying.
When the group was back in Madrid in August after competing at the Club World Cup in the United States, in a lightning start to the job for Alonso and his staff over June and July, a meeting was held with senior players, including the team’s captains, to establish a new set of rules that would govern the dressing room.
Among other things, the rules stressed the importance of punctuality, as well as intensity and dedication in training.
But changes were also made to dressing-room access. Alonso has cut down the number of club staff around the group before games and at half-time, so there is a greater sense of privacy and concentration. After the final whistle, though, the doors are open to every member of staff.
As for the training ground, whereas previously it was common for family members, agents, and even friends to be present there, members of players’ entourages have seen access restricted. Another of the new measures adopted by Alonso means only the staff members truly essential to sessions are allowed to be present at training.
Alonso pictured in training on Monday, in Madrid (Oscar del Pozo/AFP via Getty Images)
Alonso and his staff want the Real Madrid dressing room to be a safe place where nothing is leaked to the media. They tested this early on.
Before the Club World Cup opener against Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal on June 18, Alonso told his players the starting XI in advance, trusting them when it came to potential leaks. That test was not passed, because the surprise inclusion of 21-year-old academy graduate Gonzalo Garcia up front was soon reported in the press.
The issue of line-ups being leaked is not a new problem for Madrid. In recent years it was a common occurrence — so common that the club decided to announce line-ups more than two hours before games, earlier than required, as a counter measure. They did this even before their most important matches, such as the 2024 Champions League final against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley.
The squad has specifically been asked to help prevent the starting XI being leaked, but before the Liverpool match it happened again — with Spanish media reporting that Madrid’s line-up would be a repeat of the team that beat Barcelona 2-1 in El Clasico on October 26.
Trent Alexander-Arnold came on as a substitute at Anfield (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Everything Alonso wants to do in terms of increasing privacy will absolutely be supported by Madrid, a club known for their secrecy. Madrid have previously renewed players’ contracts without announcing it (this was the case with Karim Benzema, now at Saudi side Al Ittihad, and left-back Ferland Mendy), or have instead only confirmed new deals months after they were signed.
We may see the decision not to train at Liverpool replicated before other away matches in the Champions League this season. This situation had not occurred at the club since Jose Mourinho was coach from 2010-2013, but club sources say it could well be repeated.
Alonso is well-placed to understand how the Madrid dressing room has worked in the past, having spent five years there as a player from 2009-2014, including under Mourinho.
“Xabi has been there and knows perfectly well where leaks are most likely to come from,” a person close to a senior player told The Athletic. “It’s important that this is controlled on a day-to-day basis.”
Alonso has the support of the club but, as The Athletic reported last week, some of his decisions and elements of his management style have not gone down well with a section of the Real Madrid dressing room, a situation also affected by his tactical choices.
That is not the only challenge facing Alonso right now.
Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat by Liverpool means concerns about the team’s ability to compete in big games have resurfaced — a theme that dates back to the 4-0 defeat by Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup semi-final in July, and one that really intensified after the 5-2 La Liga thrashing by city rivals Atletico Madrid in September.
It looked like last weekend’s victory against Barca had helped them turned the page, but their poor performance against Arne Slot’s side has reignited the debate.
In both good times and bad over recent months, sources close to Alonso have insisted on calling for patience. They have said more time is needed to develop their new ideas and move things on from the situation they inherited.
These recent moves can all be understood in that context — and it is an area where the coach has total backing.