Xabi Alonso to adopt the ‘Mourinho model’ before Real Madrid’s UCL visit to Liverpool – report | OneFootball

Since taking over from Carlo Ancelotti as the manager of Real Madrid in June, Xabi Alonso has changed a lot of things at the club.

These range from stricter day-to-day rules for players to the use of aerial drone footage to fine-tune training details, among many other things.

Not all the changes have gone down well within the dressing room, but Alonso continues to shape this new Real Madrid look in his own model.

Another notable change with Champions League preparation

Now, according to MARCA, the latest alteration that Alonso wants to introduce concerns the team’s preparation for their Champions League match against Liverpool – a change that harks back to the Jose Mourinho era.

Until now, Real Madrid had been one of the few major clubs that still trained at the stadium hosting the match on the day before. This will change next Monday, as Alonso has decided that his players will train at 11:00 at Valdebebas before travelling to Liverpool later in the afternoon.

Upon arrival, the team will only visit Anfield for the pre-match press conference, in accordance with UEFA regulations. Consequently, only the coach and one player, chosen by the club, will attend.

Alonso’s Real Madrid face Liverpool next Tuesday. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

With this decision, Real Madrid return to a model previously used during Jose Mourinho’s tenure.

The Portuguese coach was the first, and, until now, the only, Los Blancos manager to skip pre-match training at the host stadium, preferring instead to conduct the session at Valdebebas. Alonso will now adopt that approach for the fourth round of the Champions League.

So far, Real Madrid have played two home matches (against Marseille and Juventus) and one away fixture (vs Kairat Almaty), where logistical challenges made it impossible to train in Spain beforehand, forcing them to travel on Sunday for a Tuesday match.

According to the plan, Real Madrid will train at 11:00 at Valdebebas on Monday. After lunch and a brief rest, the squad will depart for Liverpool at 16:00, with an expected arrival at 17:35 local time (one hour behind Spain).

Once there, the players, coaching staff, and delegation will move to their hotel, while Alonso and a selected player will head to Anfield, accompanied by the club’s communications team, to hold the official pre-match press conferences.