Essien was brought in from Chelsea and Modric was brought in from Tottenham Hotspur.

There is no need to say more about the abilities of Essien and Modric. It is no exaggeration to say that they are the best defensive midfielder combination in the world at the moment.

Real Madrid not only has defensive midfielders like Essien and Modric, but also has defensive midfielder substitutes like Xabi Alonso.

Alonso is also considered a former Liverpool player. Although this year is not Alonso's peak competitive period, Alonso's ability is still world-class.

Of course, Alonso's even more amazing achievements are yet to come.

In Alonso's era, many world-class players later became head coaches, such as Lampard, Gerrard, Kompany, Rooney, etc. But to be honest, the record of these famous stars as coaches is not very good, and some are even a mess.

However, Alonso's coaching record after his retirement is close to the level of world-class coaches.

Alonso and Tazigo are also known as the head coach duo of the new era.

Tazi has organized Arsenal in an orderly manner. Although Arsenal will still collapse inexplicably at the end of the season, that is not Tazi's problem, but a chronic disease of Arsenal itself.

Alonso's coaching career can be said to be really awesome. Alonso obtained the European coaching qualification certificate before retiring, and in the 18-19 season, he coached Real Madrid's U14 youth team, training a large number of valuable main forces for Real Madrid. Then in the 19-20 season, Alonso returned to his birthplace club, Real Sociedad, and as the head coach of Real Sociedad B team, he helped Real Sociedad B team to be upgraded from the last place in the Spanish Second Division B to the Spanish Second Division. This is also the first time that Real Sociedad B team has returned to the English Second Division after 60 years.

What really started Alonso's amazing coaching career was when he moved to the Bundesliga giants Leverkusen as head coach in 2022.

This year is the fifth year since Alonso retired and obtained his coaching qualification certificate.

Superstar Raul, who obtained the coaching qualification certificate at the same time as him, was still coaching Real Madrid's youth team at that time, while Alonso was already able to take charge of the entire Leverkusen on his own.

At that time, Leverkusen was experiencing a very rare crisis in the club's history. Not only did it encounter financial troubles, but Leverkusen only got 5 points in the 8 Bundesliga games that had been completed, ranking second from the bottom in the Bundesliga.

When Alonso took over this hot potato, no one was optimistic about him as he was only 40 years old and had only coaching experience with the U14 youth team and the second team.

However, when Alonso officially took over Leverkusen, Leverkusen almost immediately came back to life.

In the 9th round of the 2022 Bundesliga, which was Alonso's first game as coach, Leverkusen defeated the top-ranked Schalke 04 at home with a score of 4:0. In the 22nd Champions League group stage, Leverkusen tied Bruges 0:0 at home, tying the total points in the group with Atletico Madrid, and entered the Europa League with the advantage of goal difference over Atletico Madrid.

In the 27th round of the 22nd Bundesliga season, Alonso led Leverkusen to a 3-1 victory over Frankfurt, achieving seven consecutive wins in all competitions. This is also the first time that Bayer Leverkusen has achieved seven consecutive wins since 2002.

When the 22nd season ended, Leverkusen, which was originally ranked at the bottom, achieved a 14-game unbeaten record in all competitions, ranked sixth in the standings, and qualified for the European Cup.

In the 11th round of the 23rd Bundesliga season, Alonso led his team to a 4-0 home win over Berlin United, tying the Bundesliga's highest points record in the same period set by Guardiola when he led Bayern in the 2015-16 season with 10 wins and 1 draw and 31 points.

In the 12th round of the Bundesliga, Alonso led his team to a 3-0 victory over Werder Bremen away from home, becoming the first Leverkusen coach to lead his team to eight consecutive wins in the Bundesliga.

On February 24, 2024, in the 23rd round of the Bundesliga, Alonso led the team to a narrow 2-1 victory over Mainz at home, setting a new record of 33 unbeaten games in official matches for a Bundesliga team in a single season, breaking Bayern Munich's 32-game unbeaten record.

Based on these achievements alone, Alonso deserves the title of world-famous coach.

However, such a world-famous coach can only sit obediently on the bench of Real Madrid, replacing the young Modric and Essien who has better physical conditions.

Alonso is the kind of player who plays football with his brain and has very clear ideas. He has a strong sense of the overall situation and command talent, which laid the foundation for him to become a world-class coach later.

Alonso has studied under Benítez, Mourinho, Ancelotti and Guardiola successively. These coaches all have very distinctive coaching characteristics. Alonso's advantage is that he never blindly imitates any coach, but draws nourishment from these coaches, thinks seriously, and summarizes his own set of tactical methods.

When he coached Real Madrid U14, his own system and ideas were attached to Real Madrid's tactical system and were not very conspicuous. When he coached Real Sociedad B team, he had more power to shape the team according to his own ideas.

In Real Madrid Sociedad B team, Alonso advocated a more proactive style of play than defensive counterattack.

When defending, Alonso will arrange his team to play 4231, press high and be ready to counterattack at any time. Once the team seizes the ball, his formation will change immediately: a defensive midfielder will sink to the defense line and form a three-back pattern with two central defenders, while the two full-backs will press forward to act as wing-backs or even wing forwards, and the two wingers will then move inward and appear at the forefront of the team's attack with a center forward.

This tactic is 4231 to 3133.

This tactic is also based on passing and controlling the ball, but it is not completely restricted to the three-three routine style of play. It is a new-era tactical system that integrates Mourinho's offensive essence and Guardiola's defensive essence into one.

This tactical system also allowed Alonso to sit on the throne of the new generation of super head coach.

With Alonso's ability, a club like Bayer Leverkusen will not be able to keep him sooner or later. Alonso's coaching style is more in line with Bayern and Chelsea, and is also very suitable for Real Madrid and Liverpool, especially Liverpool. After all, Alonso's peak period was in Liverpool. Liverpool's Red Army fans will never forget the penalty kick that Alonso shot under super super huge pressure on the night of Istanbul, and Alonso naturally will not forget his crazy joy when he lifted the Champions League trophy for the first time.

Although Alonso later moved to Real Madrid and won the Champions League trophy again, the feeling of the second time was definitely not as profound as the first time.

...(End of this chapter)