Real Madrid missed the chance to snatch a victory in Xabi Alonso’s first game in charge against Al Hilal.
Federico Valverde saw his 92nd-minute penalty saved in the Club World Cup group stage game, with Real Madrid having to settling for a 1-1 draw.
Alonso wasn’t the only managerial debut in the fixture, as Simone Inzaghi took charge of his first game for Al Hilal, coaching a decent display from his side for their first outing.
Madrid held 52% possession in the match, taking 19 shots in total and creating four big chances.
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Meanwhile, Al Hilal managed 13 shots and two big chances created from their 48% share of possession in the match.
So how did Xabi Alonso set up in his first Real Madrid game and how did he utilise new signings such as Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen?
The first question that was answered was the formation of choice, as Alonso lined up in a back four rather than the back three he had previously deployed with Bayer Leverkusen.
However, Madrid still shifted into a back three on the ball, with Fran Garcia sitting in on the left, Dean Huijsen in the middle and Raul Asencio on the right.
Aurelien Tchouameni would then sit in front of the three as a lone pivot at times, which leads us on to the usage of Alexander-Arnold and Valverde on the right side of the pitch.
In the first phase of build up, Alexander-Arnold was holding a fairly nominal right back position, but slightly higher than Garcia at left back.
This then allowed a rotation between himself and Valverde, who would drop from high to low to cover the space vacated by Alexander-Arnold who would then move up into the right half space.
Much like his dynamic with Jordan Henderson at Liverpool, Valverde’s work rate and industry allow Alexander-Arnold to move forward and effect the game in the attacking third.
However, Alexander-Arnold’s debut left a bit to be desired. He only played 65 minutes, managing 57 touches, completing 34/38 of his passes and creating one chance.
The 26-year-old lost three of his four ground duels, lost possession 12 times and only completed one of his five crosses attempted in the match.
While it wasn’t a perfect debut, Alonso has given a glimpse of how he could use Alexander-Arnold in this Real Madrid team, and it looks like Valverde will be pivotal to that.
Someone who had a slightly better debut than Trent was Huijsen, playing the entire 90 minutes, managing 80 touches and completing 53 of his 61 passes (including four out of six long balls).
The young central defender showed his poise on the ball, stepping into midfield areas at times and picking passes, with one key pass and one big chance created.
But it wasn’t only his excellence on the ball, as Huijsen showed signs of what he can add out of possession.. The Spaniard won all six of his ground duels, two out of four aerial duels and made three tackles!
Alonso has seemingly implemented a 4-4-2 shape out of possession at Real Madrid, with Huijsen taking up an aggressive role on the left of central defence.
The two new Madrid defenders failed to keep a clean sheet on their debut, but Alonso will be relatively pleased with the signs shown from his new additions.