Club World Cup team guide – Real Madrid: Europe's superstars who will expect to dominate with Kylian Mbappe

New York Times

3 hours ago

Their failure to win any major trophies last season has led to a revolution at Real Madrid, starting with a change of head coach: Xabi Alonso in for Carlo Ancelotti.
The Italian, who already has a new job managing Brazil's national team, was given an honourable farewell by the Santiago Bernabeu as the coach with the most titles (15) in the club's history, though the arrival of Alonso has brought a boost of enthusiasm.
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The board has also acted quickly to improve the squad. Luka Modric, the player with the most trophies (28) in the club's history, and Lucas Vazquez will not have their expiring contracts renewed — both will leave, but not until after a last hurrah at this tournament. Jesus Vallejo, another whose contract ends on June 30, has been informed he won't be part of the squad travelling to the United States for the Club World Cup.
In terms of playing arrivals, there are two big names in already. Centre-back Dean Huijsen signed from Bournemouth after Madrid triggered his £50million ($67.7m) clause. Trent Alexander-Arnold could have arrived for free on July 1 once his contract at Liverpool ran out but Madrid have paid €10million (£8.4m; $11.4m) for to get him a couple of weeks early specifically so he can play in this tournament. And The Athletic reported last month that Madrid were in talks with Benfica about left-back Alvaro Carreras.
These early moves are no coincidence: Madrid is very interested in this new-look Club World Cup, for footballing, prestige and economic reasons.
Follow the Club World Cup on The Athletic this summer…
Their past year has been very disappointing. After winning the Champions League and La Liga in 2023-24, and despite bringing in Kylian Mbappe as a free agent from Paris Saint-Germain, Madrid failed to land any of the three main trophies this campaign.
They did lift the European Super Cup in August by beating Europa League winners Atalanta and added the Intercontinental Cup — the annual competition that used to be called the Club World Cup before FIFA got fancy — in December against Mexico's Pachuca (now one of their three opponents in the group stage of this tournament), but failed to make the grade in the other competitions.
They finished second in La Liga behind Barcelona, who also beat them in the final of the Copa del Rey (and also the Spanish Super Cup), and were eliminated by Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, losing 5-1 over the two legs.
However, Madrid have 15 European Cup/Champions League titles compared to Milan's next-best seven, 36 Spanish championships compared to Barcelona's second-biggest total of 28 and five Club World Cups, two more than anyone else (also Barca) — in other words, they are historically the dominant team in Spain, in Europe and worldwide, so are always going to be among the favourites.
Madrid are one of 12 European sides in the 32-team tournament, which they qualified for via the continental champions' route, winning the Champions League in 2022 (which by itself ensured their presence at the Club World Cup) and doing so again in 2024.
We don't really know yet, as Alonso will make his debut as Madrid coach at this Club World Cup. However, from his time at Bayer Leverkusen in Germany, we can expect a very vertical and entertaining style of football.
Alonso said when he was presented to the media as Ancelotti's replacement that he wanted to 'ignite the fans'. He said his goal is to 'transmit emotions, joy, that people enjoy, that they go to the stadium to enjoy, that on TV all over the world watching us they say, 'That's the team I like; that's my team, that's my Real Madrid''. He added: 'If we manage to ignite that, we will have an unstoppable force.'
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In terms of his likely line-up, Eduardo Camavinga and Endrick are injured and will not play at this tournament, and Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba are not expected to be involved in Madrid's first group game for the same reason. Dani Carvajal and Eder Militao, out since October and November with serious knee injuries, might be unfit too.
Alonso has returned to Madrid as a coach almost 11 years after his last game for them as a player, having won a Champions League and La Liga among other titles in his five seasons.
After retiring as a Bayern Munich player in 2017, he began his coaching career at Madrid's academy, before moving on to lead the B team at Real Sociedad — another Spanish club he also played for — and then getting the top job at Leverkusen in October 2022.
He quickly won the first Bundesliga in that club's history in 2024, going through the 34-game league season undefeated, and also steered them into the Europa League final, losing that game to Italy's Atalanta.
Now, with the experience from his playing days in Spain, England (with Liverpool) and Germany under big names including Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and Ancelotti, he is considered one of the best coaches in the world, despite being just 43 years old.
He was long ago picked out by Madrid's decision-makers as the one to succeed Ancelotti when the Italian's time at the helm came to an end.
Kylian Mbappe.
The French striker's first few months at Madrid were very disappointing, with only nine goals in his first 19 games until early December. 'In Bilbao (on December 4, he missed a penalty away against Athletic Club as Madrid lost, 2-1), I hit rock bottom,' he admitted.
After that, he played much better and the 26-year-old finished with the best goal stats ever for a Madrid debut season, his 43 in all competitions surpassing the 37 of Chilean forward Ivan Zamorano in the 1992-93 season. His total of 31 league goals earned Mbappe the 'Pichichi' award as La Liga's top scorer and also the European Golden Boot for the most goals across Europe's top domestic divisions.
Arda Guler, a 20-year-old known as 'The Turkish Pearl', is one of Madrid's latest big bets on young talent.
Signed in 2023 from Fenerbahce in his homeland, Guler's debut season was marred by injuries. But he ended the most recent campaign as a starter for Ancelotti. Now, with Alonso, who wanted him for Leverkusen before Madrid bought him, he is looking to cement himself in the line-up.
He can operate in attack both from the right flank and as a playmaker and has also been used, for Turkey's national team and in recent months by Madrid, as an offensive midfielder.
He has quality, precision and a magical left foot.
Madrid fans are crazy about him.
'Hasta el final, vamos Real!' ('Until the end, come on Real!') is probably the most iconic.
It speaks of the unwavering ambition, confidence and faith of a team who can never be given up on, because they rise to improbable comebacks, especially when playing at the Santiago Bernabeu. Their 2021-22 Champions League campaign, where they lifted the trophy after rallying from being behind at home in second legs to win ties against Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City in the knockout rounds, is a good example.
Barcelona. At the beginning of the 20th century, the rivalry was greater with neighbours Atletico Madrid, who will also play in this Club World Cup, but over the years their matches with Barcelona, a fixture now called El Clasico, have become heated and drawn the most interest, although the cities are almost 400 miles apart.
Many voices at Madrid, in the offices more than the dressing room, have long pointed to this Club World Cup as the most important competition of the lot for them.
They want to be the first club to win the expanded tournament to help them become a reference among the North American public — and they want the €100million+ in prize money that goes to the eventual champions, too.
Their many successes and proud history are well known, so there are plenty of arguments to support Madrid in this competition… and also to want anyone but them to win it.
Perhaps a point in their favour is the beautiful and modern football Alonso is expected to pursue.
(All kicks-offs ET/BST)
(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Kelsea Petersen/The Athletic)