The many Real Madrid fans at the Hard Rock Stadium had hoped for much more from the opening game of the Club World Cup against Al Hilal. Even Leverkusen's master coach cannot deliver perfection from day one.
19.06.2025, 07:19
19.06.2025, 09:46
dpa
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- Real Madrid draw 1-1 against Al Hilal in Xabi Alonso's first match as coach.
- The Madrilenians' opponents also had their new coach on the sidelines for the first time: Simone Inzaghi.
Xabi Alonso had announced "rock 'n' roll" on the pitch of the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. But what he got to see from his football stars around Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham on his debut as Real Madrid coach at the start of the Club World Cup in the USA fell far short of the expectations raised by the former Leverkusen champion coach.
The 1-1 draw against an astonishingly strong Al-Hilal team from Saudi Arabia with Simone Inzaghi, another new head coach who recently led Inter Milan to the Champions League final in Munich, was neither title-winning nor Alonso-like. The 43-year-old, who left the Bundesliga after three successful years with Bayer 04 and the 2024 league title and DFB Cup win, could only ask for patience afterwards.
Valverde misses a penalty
"It's a process. We can't expect perfection from day one," said the former Real professional. But he also knows that he is expected to deliver straight away at the tournament. "We need good results here. But it's tough competition."
At least the result could have been right. But Fede Valverde failed to score with a penalty in stoppage time, with goalkeeper Bono making a strong save.
In front of 62,415 spectators, most of them wearing Real whites, the goals came from youngster Gonzalo Garcia for the Whites (34 minutes) and Ruben Neves, who converted a penalty for the underdogs from Riyadh (41 minutes).
Alonso disliked the performance in the first half. "But I liked the way we reacted in the second half". Substitute Arda Güler hit the crossbar (46').
"We still have Ancelotti's automatisms in us and you can't change that in four days," said goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
Real will have to improve in Group H, which Red Bull Salzburg lead for the time being after a 2-1 win over CF Pachuca from Mexico.
