Xabi Alonso starts early, tablet, computers and roadmap for the Club World Cup

Adrenaline made him jump out of bed with the first rays of sunlight. Quick shower and ready to head to Valdebebas and open a new office. Xabi Alonso is in a hurry to show his script . At 7:30 a.m. this Monday, he entered the Real Madrid sports center and shortly after, he had everything ready for the first meeting with his technical staff : Sebas Parrilla (assistant coach), Ismael Camenforte (fitness coach), Alberto Encinas (technical assistant), and Beñat Labaien (systems and strategy analyst). Luis Llopis , goalkeeping coach under Carlo Ancelotti , has also joined the Tolosa native's working group.

Real Madrid released an image showing the six coaches sitting around a white table, four computers. Xabi Alonso is working on a tablet . Papers and graphics of football fields are also shown.

The new coach arrived at his office almost three hours before his first training session with his players, scheduled for 11:00 a.m. During that time, the former Leverkusen coach also greeted and met with various Valdebebas employees . He already knew many of them from his previous stint as a coach in the youth teams.

Only five in fullness

Alonso showed his teammates a roadmap that includes the most important aspect of the Club World Cup, which kicks off next Sunday. Real Madrid won't make their group stage debut until Wednesday the 18th against Al Hilal (9:00 PM). On Sunday the 22nd, they will face Pachuca (9:00 PM) and on Friday the 27th, Salzburg (3:00 AM). The club is interested in this tournament because of the prestige that comes with being its first winner and the substantial financial returns the winner could earn, around €125 million.

The team will travel to the United States next Saturday and will stay in a select area of ​​Palm Beach, north of Miami.

Xabi Alonso is designing a championship without knowing exactly how many players he will have available. In the first training session on Monday, he only had five members of the squad in full condition: Lucas Vázquez , Raúl Asencio , Fran García , Dani Ceballos and Rodrygo . He also called up 10 youth players: Fran González , Jacobo Ramón , Mestre , Fortea , Aguado , Yusi , Chema , Marío Martín , Víctor Muñoz and Gonzalo .

Waiting for the injured

The Basque midfielder hopes to have the injured Courtois , Carvajal , Militao , Alaba , Brahim , and Valverde back in the coming weeks. On Monday, the versatile Uruguayan midfielder only worked out in the gym. International players Modric , Mbappé , Tchouaméni, and Bellingham will return in the coming hours. In principle, he will be without the long-term injured players Rüdiger , Mendy , Camavinga , and Endrick .

One of the big news will be the presence of Dean Huijsen (20 years old), the Spanish national team's center back, who will be presented at noon on Tuesday. British full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold (26) could be presented on Thursday, shortly before packing his bags for Miami. Lunin, Vinicius, and Güler will arrive directly there.

Xabi's cycle begins to move.