What Can We Expect From Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid?
With Real Madrid’s rather poor performance in the Champions League and La Liga, as well as ending the season trophyless, with Barcelona having a magnificent campaign, Ancelotti has left the club. To replace him, Xabi Alonso has been named the new manager after a few successful seasons at Bayer Leverkusen.
Name: Xabi Alonso
Age: 43
Country: Spain
Context: Xabi Alonso was one of the best midfielders in his time as a player, playing in the best clubs in Europe after leaving Real Sociedad. They were Real Madrid, Liverpool, and Bayern Munich, where he was managed by the best coaches in the world, including Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, and Pep Guardiola.
Xabi Alonso spent just 3 years managing youth sides in Real Madrid and then Real Sociedad before joining Bayer Leverkusen in October 2022, achieving an astonishing 2.14 points per match across 3 seasons. Along with that, he won the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal, and the German Supercup. In addition, he was also invincible in the 2023/2024 season until the last match in the Europa League final, where they lost against Atalanta.
In this image, we can see that Xabi Alonso tends to line up a 3 at the back with two wing backs and a double pivot, as well as two 10s and a center forward.
Attack
Build-Up
Xabi Alonso likes to build up his attacks with a 4-2-3-1, having his right wing back, generally Jeremie Frimpong, move to the right wing position and have his double pivot close together, as well as the attacking midfielder, normally, Florian Wirtz, close to the double pivot. This creates a huge space between the midfielders and the attackers, which stretches the field as much as they possibly can.
With this situation created, if the opposition goes man-to-man, one of the center backs will have to follow Wirtz, or a full back will have to press the winger, leaving a 3vs3 up the pitch and a huge gap in the middle. So, Bayer Leverkusen tend to go long in this situation, with the center forward contesting for the aerial duel and the wingers coming more central, with both going into space. Meanwhile, Wirtz is moving quickly up the field to get the loose ball in the huge gap that was created if the striker isn’t able to play the wingers.
Another option they use to play out when they are pressed man-to-man is a long ball from the goalkeeper to the right center back, who moves further up the pitch and is able to either control the ball or win the aerial duel, given his dominance in the air.
If they see that they have numerical superiority with Wirtz dropping, they will try to play from the back, this is usually the preferred option if it is possible. In addition, they tend to build up through the left side of the pitch, allowing Frimpong to have 1vs1 situations when the ball is switched, but we will talk about this later.
Overall, in build-up, they rarely lose the ball and are very good at identifying the right options, whether to play long or short. We can see this in this chart, which shows where Bayer Leverkusen loses the most balls compared to the league average, with the darker section being where more balls are lost.
Bayer Leverkusen’s ball losses positions. (Wyscout, 2025).
In addition, they are the second team that loses the fewest number of balls, second only to Bayern Munich.
Settled Possession
When in settled possession, Bayer Leverkusen has several options to reach the last line, the first of which is a follow-up of the build-up. As mentioned before, Bayer Leverkusen tend to build up through the left where they have better technical players such as Alex Grimaldo or Granit Xhaka, and Wirtz. This attracts the opposition players, which allows Frimpong to be isolated in 1vs1 situations.
In fact, they are the 5th team with the most attacks in depth this season in the Bundesliga.
Last Line
In the last line, since they tend to arrive on the wings, they tend to make cutbacks and crosses into the box frequently; in fact, they are the third team that crosses the most in the league.
Overall, Bayer Leverkusen’s ability to attack and create chances is exceptional, having several ways to generate opportunities, which makes them unpredictable. So much so that they are the second team with the most goals and most shots this season, second only to Bayern Munich. However, it is true that they have overscored their xG by more than 9 goals, nonetheless, their xG values sit in the top 5.
Transition Attack – Defense
When Bayer Leverkusen loses the ball, they initiate a counterpress that involves all players near the ball to press the player on the ball, ignoring any positions.
This regain then led to a goal; however, other times this may expose the team as everyone is out of position, especially if in possession, many players are moving around, which leaves them out of their natural positions.
Their pressing is very effective, as we can see in this chart that shows where Bayer Leverkusen recovered the most balls compared to the league average; the darker the section, the more balls recovered.
Bayer Leverkusen’s ball recovery positions. (Wyscout, 2025).
Mid Block
When Bayer Leverkusen are in a mid-block, they tend to have an aggressive attitude in a 5-4-1 formation with the center forward, attacking midfielder, and outside midfielder shadow-marking any passes into the middle. Meanwhile, the rest are man-marking their attacking players, including the double pivot.
Low Block
In a low block, Bayer Leverkusen tend to position themselves in a very compact 5-4-1 pressing any players receiving the ball in the middle and allowing the ball to go out wide, given that they have 3 dominant center backs in the air, which allows them to defend the box well.
Overall, Bayer Leverkusen out of possession is very efficient, as we can see here that they are the 4th team with the fewest goals conceded, and the second for the fewest shots conceded. Furthermore, their xG conceded actually sits in second place, far above 4th place, but they actually conceded more goals than the xG suggests they should have. All signs point to Alonso being a success story in Real Madrid.
By: Juan Fernandez Valencia / @ScoutLaLiga1
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images