Real Madrid’s new coach, Xabi Alonso, surprised everyone on Thursday night when he changed up the team’s playing style. He decided to try a brand new 3-5-2 formation, which means three defenders, five midfielders (with two of them playing like speedy defenders and attackers on the sides), and two strikers up front. This was a big switch from how Real Madrid usually play!
The change worked out really well. Real Madrid beat RB Salzburg 3-0, finished first in their group, and now they’ll play Juventus next in the Club World Cup. Alonso is known for trying new tactics because he did great things at Bayer Leverkusen before coming to Madrid.
For a long time, Real Madrid mostly used a 4-3-3 system (four defenders, three midfielders, and three attackers). That was the style used by past coaches like Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane. But Alonso went back to an old style that Real Madrid hadn’t used much since the year 2000, when they won the Champions League with Vicente del Bosque.
“We’re still getting used to what the coach wants,” said Vinicius Jr after the game. “It takes time to change, but today was a good start, especially in the first half.”
Earlier in the tournament, Alonso used a regular four-man defense. But for this game, he put Aurelien Tchouameni in the middle of the three central defenders, with Antonio Rudiger and Dean Huijsen on either side. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Fran Garcia played as wing-backs, running up and down the field to help both attack and defend.
In the middle, Jude Bellingham and Arda Guler were the creative playmakers, with Federico Valverde helping out as a defensive midfielder. Vinicius Jr and Gonzalo Garcia were the two strikers.
The new tactics helped Real Madrid control the game. Bellingham and Guler kept giving Vinicius Jr great chances, and he scored the first goal in the 40th minute by dribbling past two defenders and shooting into the bottom corner. Right before halftime, Vinicius Jr made a clever back-heel pass to set up Valverde for the second goal. Then, in the 84th minute, Gonzalo Garcia finished off the win by lobbing the ball over the Salzburg goalkeeper after a fast counter-attack.
This was one of Real Madrid’s best games in the group stage. Earlier, they had a 1-1 draw against Al Hilal and beat Pachuca 3-1, but didn’t look as strong as they did against Salzburg.
“The first half was really solid,” Alonso told reporters. “We were patient and waited for the right moment to score. I’m happy with how the players did, especially after making these changes.”
Now, Real Madrid will play Juventus in the next round on Tuesday. It will be a tough game and everyone is watching to see if Alonso will stick with his new system. There’s also a good chance that Kylian Mbappe will be back in the team, since he missed the group games because he was sick.
“We’ll see what happens,” said Alonso. “We hoped Kylian would be ready for this match, but he wasn’t. We have four days to get him ready. I’m hopeful, but I don’t want to promise anything yet.”
