Xabi Alonso's first Chelsea game at Stamford Bridge revealed as reunion confirmed | OneFootball

A date has been confirmed for Spaniard to make his bow in west London

Xabi Alonso’s first home game at Chelsea has been confirmed, and the Spaniard is in for a reunion with one of his former clubs.

The former Real Madrid manager took over the reins in west London this summer after Liam Rosenior was sacked back in April for a run of five consecutive defeats that saw the Blues score no goals in that time.

They missed out on European football entirely last term, finishing 10th as interim boss Calum McFarlane saw them limp over the line.

Now, Alonso, invigorated from his January departure from Madrid, is back in management, and tries his hand in the Premier League, a division he knows well from his playing days at Liverpool.

The 44-year-old will take charge of his first match at Stamford Bridge against a familiar opposition on Saturday, August 15, when the west Londoners welcome Real Sociedad to the capital.

Alonso played for the Basque side from 1999 to 2004, before making the move to Merseyside, where he spent five years.

He then moved back to his homeland to become a ‘Galactico’ at Madrid, before ending his career at Bayern Munich in Germany.

Now, he will face Sociedad in a friendly in his first outing as Chelsea boss at Stamford Bridge, taking on the side whose B team he managed from 2019 to 2022 as he broke into coaching.

Following a successful stint back at his boyhood club, he moved into his first senior management role with Bayer Leverkusen, and he led die Werkself to a maiden Bundesliga title in 2024, as the German side went unbeaten.