Real Madrid, which beats to the rhythm of the obligation to win all the titles in which it participates, start the Club World Cup as great favourites for the title in parallel to the beginning of the new era that Xabi Alonso intends to mark after the departure of Ancelotti.
Real Madrid always have to win. Whether it’s to defend titles and extend greatness or, as now, to make up for the lack of them. Real Madrid are coming off the back of a difficult year, but the chip is always reset at the start of a competition. Because, even if it is revamped, like this Club World Cup, the leitmotiv of the club is to win everything. And now it was not going to be any less, even though the club is rebuilding and in limbo in the calendar between the two campaigns.
That glory puts the ‘Merengues’ on the podium of favourites. And so it will be in a group in which, in addition, the level of Al-Hilal, Pachuca and Salzburg will not be particularly demanding. This is a treasure for Xabi Alonso, who has to get a rebuilding project underway with no time to get things back on track. Although he already knows this, the moral of the story is that at Real Madrid there is no time; the only thing that counts is winning.
The Ancelotti era is over, but not all of the ingredients have changed. Mbappe, sharp in the second half of the season, Vinicius, Fede Valverde and Courtois give a helping hand to Alexander-Arnold and Huijsen, who have been forced to speed up their adaptation with undisputed starters. There are always arguments to win wearing that shield, but it will take more months to discover the new automatisms that Xabi Alonso has established.
