Alonso officially takes over as Real Madrid's coach and vows to follow in the footsteps of Ancelotti
MADRID (AP) — Xabi Alonso officially took over Real Madrid's coaching job on Monday, vowing to follow in the footsteps of Carlo Ancelotti and saying he has 'a good feeling' about the team's future under his command.
Madrid announced the hiring of Alonso on Sunday, a day after the club paid tribute to Ancelotti at the team's final Spanish league match of the season at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Ancelotti is taking over the Brazil job after four mostly successful seasons in his second stint with the club.
'I'm here to take over from Carlo Ancelotti, who was my coach and is a great person,' Alonso said. 'He is a coach who left his mark on me and had a great influence. Without his guidance, I probably wouldn't be here. I'll pick up his legacy with pride and honor of now being in the position that Carlo was before, and I hope to live up to the expectations and lead this club to achieve all of its objectives.'
Alonso said it felt good returning home to Madrid, where he won six titles as a player from 2009-2014.
'Without a doubt this is a very special day for me,' Alonso said. 'I'm very happy to be at a place where I feel is my home. I may have been a few years away, but the link with Real Madrid and Madrid fans has always existed.'
The ceremony to introduce Alonso began with the showing of a video with some of Alonso's highlights as a player for Madrid, Spain and other clubs where he played as a midfielder. There were also highlights of his stints as a coach at Madrid's youth squads, Real Sociedad's 'B' team and with Bayer Leverkusen, which he left after this season.
The 43-year-old Alonso, who arrives on a contract until June 2028, watched the video alongside his wife and other invitees.
'Today is a very special day for all of us, it's the start of a new phase,' Madrid president Florentino Pérez said. 'Because we have a new coach who already is one of the best in the world and who represents the values of Real Madrid because he knows exactly what this shield and this shirt means.'
Alonso is returning to Real Madrid to take over a club that failed to meet expectations this season. It won the UEFA Super Cup title but mostly struggled after that, failing to lift another trophy and losing all four 'clásico' matches against rival Barcelona, which clinched a league and cup double.
'We have a great team, with fantastic players,' Alonso said. 'I'm convinced that I can achieve important things, worthy of Real Madrid. I want to inspire the fans, make them proud of the team that they see on the field. I have a good feeling that we can start something great.'
Alonso helped Madrid win the Spanish league in 2012 and the 2014 Champions League before leaving to help Bayern Munich win three Bundesliga titles.
As a coach, Alonso led Leverkusen to an unprecedented German league and cup double last year in his first full season after taking over the team when it was in the Bundesliga's relegation zone the season before.
His team became the first to complete a whole Bundesliga campaign unbeaten. Leverkusen's only defeat in 2023-24 was to Atalanta in the Europa League final, and it bounced back three days later by winning the 2024 German Cup.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Mamardashvili v Alisson: Could there really be a battle to be Liverpool's No 1?
It's rare that such an outpouring of emotion should follow the exit of a backup goalkeeper. The understudy stopper is often a forlorn figure, a guy simply there to make up the numbers and occasionally cover in times of need. Yet over the years, Caoimhin Kelleher has become much more than a bit-part player at Liverpool, which is why news of his £18million ($24.3m) move to Brentford yesterday has been met with an equal degree of sadness and celebration. Advertisement This was a man, signed from Cork-based Ringmahon Rangers in 2015, who steadily became Ireland's standout goalkeeper and was clearly good enough to be an established No 1. He filled in admirably whenever Alisson was absent and earned the undisputed tag of the best backup goalkeeper in the Premier League. If it wasn't for the continued brilliance of the Brazilian, then Kelleher's journey at Liverpool might have been different. Although he leaves highly decorated with five major medals, his contributions have been limited to just 25 Premier League starts in six seasons. For years, he's made it clear that he wants more. Perhaps it was fitting that he played more of a role in winning the 2024-25 Premier League title. Liverpool's League Cup wins in 2022 and 2024 were made possible through Kelleher's vital contributions, but he watched on during the Champions League win in 2019 and in the latter stages of the FA Cup success in 2022, which are the other trophies he has won. By playing 10 games at the back end of 2024 (three in the Champions League and seven in the Premier League) when Alisson sustained a hamstring injury that ruled him out for almost three months, Kelleher reminded those watching of his high standards. His safe pair of hands helped build confidence when other clubs might have crumbled without their first-choice goalkeeper. In the 2-0 Champions League win over Real Madrid, it was Kelleher who pulled off multiple saves to keep a clean sheet, as well as denying Kylian Mbappe from the penalty spot. Such was his importance to the team that some Liverpool fans even turned his mistake against Newcastle United in the league in December into a positive, quipping that without it — and the subsequent two dropped points in the 3-3 draw at St James's Park — the fixture schedule meant Liverpool would not have been able to win the league at Anfield in April. Advertisement On a more serious note, there was an acceptance that as much as so many people wanted him to stay, Kelleher needed to play every week rather than every time Alisson was absent, and that leaving this summer was inevitable unless there was a significant change. To earn £18million from a player who was heading into the final year of his contract also represents good business for Liverpool, especially as Giorgi Mamardashvili is already signed up as the next man in line. Yet it's clear that Mamardashvili, signed from Valencia for £29million last summer (he then stayed at the Spanish club last season), will face the same issues, at least initially, in that Alisson remains the first choice for head coach Arne Slot. Mamardashvili, who has sights on becoming the best goalkeeper in the world himself in the future, wants to play rather than sit on the sidelines and is awaiting an update from Liverpool on how often he is expected to be used next season. Unless a decision is made to send him out on loan — a move that now looks unlikely — the 24-year-old will have to bide his time and try to work his way into the team. He has been learning English and preparing for life at Liverpool for some time and is confident about taking up his position in the first-team squad when he returns for pre-season training at the start of July. Breaking up the best goalkeeping department in the country in this way carries an element of risk for Liverpool. Third-choice stopper, Vitezslav Jaros, is also likely to leave this summer as he seeks a loan move to a club within the top-five big leagues of Europe after a year watching from the sidelines. Harvey Davies, 21, will fill in as the third choice if Jaros does head out on loan. But it is Mamardashvili who will be going head-to-head with Alisson for the No 1 spot. Liverpool believe Mamardashvili has the qualities to become the next starting goalkeeper and the long-term replacement for Alisson when he eventually moves on. There are also ongoing concerns over Alisson's injury record after he missed those two months with a hamstring problem in 2024-25. Advertisement Last summer, sporting director Richard Hughes made the decision to keep three senior goalkeepers on board for that very reason and it paid dividends, with Jaros providing cover for Kelleher when he held the fort in November and December. Now if Alisson sustains an injury, the pressure will fall on Mamardashvili to fill in, a highly rated and experienced international, but still one who is untested at Premier League level. Liverpool signed him as a matter of urgency last summer. They had tracked him for months but, after his standout performances for Georgia at the European Championship last summer, the club felt they needed to act quickly with so many eyes watching. Interest in Alisson from Saudi Arabia also fuelled the need for succession planning, just in case any pursuit turned into a formal process. It's understood that interest has cooled, and Alisson's contract still has one year left to run plus another 12-month option in the club's favour. While Mamardashvili's form was not as impressive for Valencia this season as it had been for Georgia, he was part of a team struggling at the foot of the table for a large part of the season (they finished 12th in La Liga), which had a knock-on effect. Playing at Premier League champions Liverpool, a team who face fewer shots at goal and have more possession, will suit his game. It is why he's earmarked as the club's man for the future.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Didier Deschamps on the brilliance of Doue and Yamal – and why he can't ‘copy and paste' PSG's success
Didier Deschamps had a hard enough job as it was fitting all the extravagantly gifted attacking players at his disposal into France's starting XI. Then Desire Doue came along. During the most recent international break, in March, Deschamps found himself grappling with the three-sided conundrum of how to grant his captain, Kylian Mbappe, the attacking freedom he desires, how to somehow harness Ousmane Dembele's remarkable form as a false nine with Paris Saint-Germain, and how to devise a system that would enable Michael Olise to fully express himself in a France shirt for the first time. Advertisement The two legs of France's Nations League quarter-final win over Croatia yielded only partial success on those fronts. The deployment of Dembele in a free central role in the first leg, a 2-0 defeat in Split, proved underwhelming, while Mbappe extended his run of international appearances without scoring to seven over the two matches. But Olise shone at No 10 in the return leg, opening his France account with a sumptuous free kick at the Stade de France that paved the way for a jubilantly celebrated penalty-shootout success. Doue successfully netted his spot kick after coming on as a 66th-minute substitute, but that was all before his man-of-the-match display in PSG's historic 5-0 demolition of Inter in the Champions League final. Having torn the Inter defence to shreds in Munich, becoming the first player to have produced three goal contributions in a final in the Champions League era, when he reported for France duty at Clairefontaine on Monday evening, it was with a status that had been spectacularly enhanced. There will be clamour now for Deschamps to find a way to include Mbappe and Dembele and Olise and Doue in his starting XI. But for the time being, he is simply pleased to be able to call upon a dazzlingly talented young player who showed at the Allianz Arena that he is already in the thrilling first flush of full sporting maturity. 'I wasn't surprised,' Deschamps tells The Athletic. 'He went from Rennes, where he was doing good things, to PSG, where there were various steps to take and he took them all. 'I brought him into the France squad. I knew he had the potential and I've obviously picked up information on his personality and things like that. Being capable of doing that at his age in a Champions League final… Bravo. And it means he'll turn up with a big smile on his face!' Advertisement Invited to pinpoint Doue's most impressive qualities, Deschamps makes a point of mentioning the dedication and level-headedness that have impressed the winger's coaches right from the earliest days of his career in the academy at Rennes. 'He has the ability to beat people,' the France coach says. 'He has the ability to cover a lot of ground, which isn't always the case (for players with his profile). That's why he's able to play in attack and in midfield. 'And he's young. He turns 20 on Tuesday (June 3). Things haven't happened by accident for him. Everything has been planned and mapped out. And you need that. You can't do without it at a big club. 'He does everything he needs to, but he doesn't rest on his laurels. He's made a very good start. Now it's up to him to sustain it over time.' Doue's emergence also means there are now two DDs in the France setup. 'That's why I picked him!' jokes the other one. Deschamps is sitting in a light and airy meeting room on the first floor of Clairefontaine's training and conference centre, a modern four-storey building of stone, steel and glass that looks down a grassy slope towards the Terrain Michel Platini training pitch. Somewhat incongruously, a gigantic inflatable green obstacle course is being erected on the lawn outside in preparation for a visit from the children of French Football Federation employees. It is the day after PSG's thrilling dismantling of Inter, but in the tranquil wooded surroundings of France's national football centre, which lies near the town of Rambouillet, 30 miles southwest of central Paris, the riotous celebrations that overtook the French capital the night before could not feel further away. As coach of the French national team, Deschamps was pleased to see a French club prevail in Europe's biggest club competition for only the second time after his own Marseille side's conquest of the continent in 1993. 'Whether you're a PSG supporter or not, they're a Ligue 1 club,' he says. 'And you can't say that Ligue 1 receives much consideration around the world today.' Advertisement But he is sceptical when it comes to any potential positive consequences for Les Bleus. For all the acclaim that Luis Enrique's side have received for their tactical synchronicity or the aggressiveness of their pressing, Deschamps believes it would be too difficult to replicate elements of the Spaniard's approach with France — not least because, as he points out, the only front line PSG players at his disposal are all forwards. 'I'm not complaining about the players I have, but (Achraf) Hakimi is not French, Marquinhos is not French, (Willian) Pacho is not French, Vitinha is not French, none of the (first-choice) midfielders are French. (Khvicha) Kvaratskhelia is Georgian,' he says. 'You can't copy and paste things, even though what they've done is very good. It works very well and it proves Luis Enrique right. Is it possible (to replicate)? Yes. Is there as much time? No. There's much less time. 'If you have seven or eight players, or an entire midfield, who all play for the same club, so much the better. I'd prefer to have 10 players from two clubs than 10 players from eight clubs. They have an automatic understanding and what they do with their clubs serves the national team, but it's not always the case. 'And even with the players I can pick — if we take the example of Desire Doue and (Bradley) Barcola — they're in competition! Sometimes they play together, but sometimes one starts and the other one comes on. It's difficult to transpose things. 'In a club, you have the whole week and you're playing matches together one after the other. So it's not the same.' Doue may be the name on everyone's lips this week and Dembele may be the leading French contender for the Ballon d'Or, but Deschamps takes care to make sure his skipper is not overlooked. Asked during a pool interview with journalists from several European publications if Dembele is a credible candidate for the sport's ultimate individual prize, the France coach replies in the affirmative, but then immediately brings up Mbappe, who he believes has had a 'great season' despite Real Madrid's failure to win a major trophy. Deschamps pays a generous tribute to Lamine Yamal and identifies the 17-year-old Barcelona winger as the principal threat to French hopes in Thursday's Nations League semi-final against Spain in Stuttgart, yet again his thoughts quickly turn to Mbappe, who came in from the cold during the March international break after six months without playing for his country. Advertisement 'Yamal is one of those extraordinary players,' says Deschamps, whose side fell to a 2-1 defeat against a Yamal-inspired Spain in the Euro 2024 semi-finals. 'You only ever get two or three of them at the same time. He does it match after match and he's still young. 'But to take the example of other players, Kylian is older, but at 18, he was doing things like Yamal. They're the fuoriclasse, as the Italians say, the hors categorie players, and they're able to make a mark on football very young with what they do.' Deschamps, 56, is approaching the final 12 months of his tenure as France coach, having announced in January that he will step down after next year's World Cup following 14 years at the helm. His tenure has included a World Cup triumph at the 2018 tournament in Russia and victory in the Nations League in 2021, along with runners-up finishes at Euro 2016 on home soil and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. But he has often faced criticism over the stodgy quality of France's football, having notably steered Les Bleus to the semi-finals at last summer's European Championship in Germany without a single one of his players scoring a goal in open play. Although he tends to dismiss the impact of such criticism upon himself, he reveals that his decision to announce his departure was partly motivated by a desire to prevent his players from being caught in the crossfire. 'Everything that is external, it has no importance and no influence on me,' Deschamps says. 'But I felt that despite the results we'd achieved, there was a media environment that was too negative and it could have had an impact on the players. 'I don't think they deserved that. I don't know if it (his announcement) will help with that — it wasn't the fundamental objective — but that's what we've done.' Deschamps used France's Nations League group games in the autumn to enact what he has repeatedly described as a 'reoxygenation' of his squad, with Olise, Barcola and Roma midfielder Manu Kone among the young players to have been granted opportunities. They were decisions that he thinks his eventual successor will likely benefit from even more than he will. 'I made choices during the Nations League qualifiers that were definitely detrimental to me, but I felt that it was the moment to give playing time to younger players in order to prepare them,' Deschamps explains. 'After the World Cup, it will no longer concern me, but I consider that it's my duty to prepare for the near future rather than the distant future.' Advertisement Zinedine Zidane, who has been out of work since the end of his second stint as Real Madrid coach in 2021, is widely seen as the overwhelming favourite to succeed Deschamps. Zidane recently gave his strongest indication to date that he wants the job, telling guests at an event organised by his sponsor, Adidas, last week (as reported by L'Equipe): 'Of course, it's a dream, I can't wait.' But not for the first time, Deschamps stopped short of giving his former Juventus and France colleague a ringing endorsement, saying only that he was 'obviously a natural and legitimate candidate'. Deschamps is already guaranteed to step away from the France fold as both the longest-serving and the most successful men's national team coach in the country's history. But with a place in Sunday's Nations League final against either Germany or Portugal on the line, and a World Cup qualifying campaign to then begin planning, he bats away talk of what kind of legacy he hopes to leave. 'That's not a motivation for me,' Deschamps says. 'It's never been a motivation. I give everything I have for the France team. I did 11 years as a player and if I go to the end, it'll be 14 years as coach. Twenty-five years of my life, you know. 'I'm tied to the blue, white and red jersey, which is the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me in my life. I'll leave what I leave. Nobody, not even my worst enemies, can take away the results I've had.'
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Bruno Fernandes rejecting Saudi Arabia is good news – and not just for Manchester United
It's easy to get annoyed at Bruno Fernandes. As an on-pitch presence, he's not especially likeable. His face seems permanently set to 'complaint' mode. He nags at referees. There was that undignified episode when Manchester United lost 7-0 to Liverpool a couple of years ago and he essentially threw a tantrum on the pitch. Advertisement But, as much as anything, that just illustrates something we all know: that on-pitch manners do not necessarily maketh the man. You hear plenty of stories about Bruno being a good guy, which at the very least balances the apparent petulance, most notably his attempt to pay for United staff to attend the FA Cup final after their free travel and accommodation were nixed as part of Big Jim Ratcliffe's cost-cutting drive. He also tends to be the one who 'fronts up' to the media after United defeats, when most of the time he's the least of their problems. That might feel minor, but doing it means one of his younger, more junior, probably struggling team-mates doesn't have to. Fernandes currently plays for a particularly bleak type of football institution: one that's rich and high profile, and thus commands a lot of attention, but one that can't win games, and is run by people who seem intent on flushing any goodwill they might have down the toilet through redundancies, price rises, cutting charitable grants and whatever else they have planned in the name of austerity. This is a club that has been carried on the pitch by their best player and captain for longer than he probably cares to remember, and one that you have little confidence is going to turn things around any time soon. In short, you wouldn't blame Fernandes for desperately grabbing at any plausible life raft that happens to float past. Which brings us to his decision to turn down Al Hilal this week. 'It would have been an easy move,' Fernandes said at a Portugal press conference on Monday evening. 'I had Ruben Neves and Joao Cancelo there, two people I have a great friendship with. But I want to stay at the highest level, play in big competitions, because I still feel capable. I want to keep being happy, I'm still very passionate about this sport, and I'm happy with my decision.' Advertisement Fernandes was reportedly offered a contract that would have more than doubled his already significant wages to move to Saudi Arabia, with Al Hilal also apparently prepared to pay a £80million ($108m) transfer fee to extract him. Most United fans will naturally be delighted. Not only do they keep their best player, but they will be protected from the dispiriting prospect of their club probably frittering away a crucial windfall; of all the clubs you would trust to cash in on their star man and use the money to responsibly beef up their squad, United are at the bottom of the list. But the rest of us in Britain, Europe, the non-Saudi world, should be pleased, too. It is, on the most basic level, refreshing to see someone have the conviction to turn down that amount of money. I can't confidently say that I would. If you can, then fair play to you. Fernandes' representatives met with Al Hilal, so we can assume that he didn't turn the offer down on moral grounds, otherwise he might not have even entertained it. It's also true that it's easier to reject that kind of approach when you already earn £250,000-a-week at one of the world's biggest clubs. Fernandes is not exactly hard up. But it's still pleasing that a player has not signed up to the Saudi project; someone of standing has rejected being a representative of the ultimate purpose of their move into sport, whether you call it sportswashing, soft power or something less charitable. The players that have agreed to move to the Saudi Pro League so far have generally fallen into three categories: ageing legends in decline, like Cristiano Ronaldo or Sadio Mane; excellent-but-not-quite-elite types in roughly their peak years, like Ruben Neves, Ivan Toney or Aleksandar Mitrovic; and relative journeymen, such as your Daniel Podences or Georges-Kevin N'Koudous. Advertisement What they haven't really yet managed to snag is a genuinely elite player at the peak of his powers from one of the elite clubs; a player who could probably slot happily into most top European teams and who represents a legitimate loss to one of the 'legacy' leagues. You could argue Karim Benzema (who was the reigning Ballon d'Or holder when he joined Al Ittihad) or Riyad Mahrez (fresh from Manchester City's treble-winning season) fit into this category, but they were 35 and 32 respectively when they made their moves. Fernandes is 30, but still performing as if in his prime, so would probably have been the SPL's biggest coup from a purely football perspective, if not a PR one. As it is, one of the Premier League's best players is staying in the Premier League, and will continue playing at a level of competition that befits his ability. Whether it's for that reason, or a sign that not everybody can be bought, or that not everyone can be persuaded to represent state project — take your pick — this should be celebrated. This is all said with the caveat that Fernandes is staying… for now. We have been in this position before, where someone turns down a move to Saudi Arabia initially, only to reconsider. Steven Gerrard, who rejected an offer to become Al Ettifaq manager in June 2023 then joined them the following month, springs to mind. This article might look pretty silly if Fernandes flip-flops. He also isn't necessarily staying at United: should a competent European team make him and United an attractive offer, he may still leave. We also shouldn't pretend he's a saint who is sticking around purely for altruistic reasons, for the history of a proud football club that he simply can't abandon. He has made this decision for essentially the same reason that all of those players who have moved to Saudi: because it is in the best interests of him and his family. If a better alternative presents itself, he will probably take it, and rightly so. But for now, Bruno Fernandes is not moving to Saudi Arabia, and we should welcome that fact.
