TA: Who are Real Madrid’s winners and losers under Alonso?

Real Madrid have made a positive start to life under their new manager Xabi Alonso, after failing to lift any major trophies with Carlo Ancelotti in charge last season.

Sunday’s 2-1 home win against Barcelona in El Clasico opened up a five-point lead over them at the top of La Liga, while Madrid have also won all three of their Champions League games so far (against Marseille, Kairat and Juventus) with a visit to Liverpool to come on Tuesday.

Earlier this week, The Athletic reported in depth on the changes Alonso has made since arriving in the summer — and how that has left several of the club’s senior players unhappy with his management. From a purely footballing perspective, though, which players have gained the most so far under Madrid’s new leader? And have any seen their roles reduced?

Kylian Mbappe

The French striker got 44 goals and five assists in 59 games across his debut Madrid season under Ancelotti last term, but there was a sense the numbers didn’t tell the whole story; that his overall performances and effectiveness could have been better still.

In the early months of year two at the Bernabeu, Mbappe is clearly Madrid’s leading player — ahead of Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior. He is the outfield player with the most minutes (1,135) and has stepped up under Alonso, starting all 13 games, with other attackers rotated around him.

His performances have been spectacular; scoring 16 times and assisting twice, he has been involved in a goal every 63.4 minutes of game time. His xG per shot has risen marginally from 0.16 to 0.18 this season, suggesting he’s been getting into slightly more dangerous areas for his shots this time around. As we can see from the shot maps below, Mbappe has aimed for the bottom-left corner often so far this season, a trademark finish that is driving his fine performance in front of goal.

Speaking at a press conference in September, Alonso highlighted the 26-year-old France captain as a leader “because of his personality, experience, and influence on the rest”. Members of Madrid’s coaching team who were at the club last season are celebrating his upturn, while new arrivals are delighted with the quality he is showing.

There was an important gesture from the club towards him in pre-season, with Mbappe given the No 10 shirt vacated by Luka Modric’s departure after 10 years, even though seniority — in terms of how long a player has been at the club, which is how these matters are usually decided at Madrid — would have allowed summer 2023 signing Arda Guler to claim it first.

Mbappe has also been chosen as the team’s penalty-taker, when last season he rotated that role with Bellingham or Vinicius Jr, and he is now one of their main free-kick takers as well.

Arda Guler

The new role Guler is enjoying under Alonso is actually another factor in Mbappe’s upturn. The two players have linked up wonderfully, and Guler is Madrid’s top assist provider with five — all of them to the Frenchman.

Guler’s change in fortunes is clearly reflected in his playing time. So far under Alonso, who wanted to sign him for Bayer Leverkusen when he was coaching the German club and the Turkish youngster was at Fenerbahce, he is the squad’s sixth-most-used player, up from 17th in Ancelotti’s final season.

At a press conference last season, Ancelotti said: “At Madrid, young players have to warm the bench before becoming undisputed starters.” At a news conference of his own during the Club World Cup this summer, successor Alonso’s view of the 20-year-old was: “We have to invest in him.”

Guler’s change of position has been key. Whereas Ancelotti usually used him as a right-winger, now he has more of an organising role in central midfield — as reflected in the graphic below.

Guler himself said in every appearance in front of the media at the Club World Cup that he was happier with Alonso because he was playing more and more in midfield.

Alvaro Carreras

Carreras has been one of the pillars of Alonso’s Madrid project from the outset.

The new head coach pushed for his signing from Benfica, and the 22-year-old arrived in July in a €50million (£44m; $58.2m) deal. In a parallel move, Madrid sold academy graduate Rafa Obrador, 21, to the Lisbon club for €5m.

The left-back, who was in Madrid’s academy before a 2020 move to Manchester United, is the fourth-most-used player in Madrid’s squad this season and has started 12 of the 13 games. Setting aside the 5-2 defeat by Atletico Madrid a month ago, when nobody in the visiting side covered themselves in glory, his performances have received very positive ratings.

Carreras has contributed good positioning and strength. He has attempted 19 tackles in 10 La Liga matches, the second-most in the squad behind Federico Valverde, Guler and Franco Mastantuono (all on 21) and made 12 interceptions, the second-most behind Aurelien Tchouameni (14).

Madrid are confident that, as the games go by, he will improve in attacking areas, where he is not yet having as much impact as he did for Benfica.

Gonzalo Garcia

The academy striker travelled to the Club World Cup in June as a backup player, with plans to return to Europe after that tournament in the United States and join one of the many La Liga clubs interested in signing him on loan for this season. But then Mbappe’s bout of gastroenteritis, on top of Endrick’s muscle injury in May, opened the door for him to be a starter in FIFA’s new competition — and he took advantage of it.

Gonzalo, 21, delivered on Alonso’s trust by scoring four goals and providing one assist while starting all six games, winning the tournament’s Golden Boot, and he was further rewarded in August with a first-team contract.

Despite having only accumulated 112 minutes this season, Gonzalo is considered to be ahead of Endrick (see below), who is a major investment and commitment by the club. He has played in nine games, including the Madrid derby and last Sunday’s Clasico, but started only once.

Vinicius Junior

The Brazilian has gone from having an idyllic relationship with Ancelotti to a very tense one with Alonso. He feels the new coach is not treating him fairly, as he has only finished three games this season despite starting 10 times.

This was particularly evident against Barcelona, when Vinicius Jr was substituted in the 72nd minute with Madrid leading 2-1. He reacted with enormous anger, and TV cameras caught him saying, “I’m leaving the team. It’s better if I leave. I’m leaving.”

Vinicius Jr has since apologised at training and posted a public statement repeating that message on Wednesday — but there was no reference in it to Alonso. The Athletic has reported that people close to the player say that the omission was deliberate.

The 25-year-old is one of the Madrid players who feels he has less confidence and freedom to express himself on the field due to Alonso’s footballing guidelines. However, his numbers are very similar to last season: he averaged 8.3 one v ones per 90 minutes in La Liga last term, compared to 8.5 this season. The success rate in them has dropped very marginally, from 39 per cent to 36 per cent.

Federico Valverde

The Uruguayan has had a difficult start to the new manager’s first season and has been surrounded by controversy, something he is not used to.

But Alonso holds him in high regard. “He makes my life much easier,” the coach said about him at the Club World Cup.

At the end of September, with Trent Alexander-Arnold out injured and fellow right-back Dani Carvajal first suspended and later also on the casualties list, there was consensus at Madrid that midfielder Valverde would be the best solution to cover that position.

The Uruguayan, who had been below his usual standard in the first games of the season, does not feel comfortable playing there and made this clear to the media. He has also commented on this internally at the club.

“I’m doing well in the middle, my position, where I’ve always played,” Valverde said in the Bernabeu mixed zone after last month’s Champions League win against Marseille. “Right now, I’m one of the pillars of the midfield and the coach knows that I don’t really like playing at full-back.”

This led to rumours he had refused to play there in the next European game against Kairat, something the player himself denied on social media.

Valverde has now found more stability — but as a right-back, when he wants to play in midfield.

Endrick

The Brazilian is the player in the worst situation in Madrid’s first-team squad, having yet to play a single minute for Alonso.

The 19-year-old forward missed the Club World Cup due to injury, then suffered a relapse, which meant he also missed the start of the new season. He recovered in mid-September, making the squad for the first time against Espanyol. But he was an unused substitute that day, and has been in the seven games since, too.

That is why he is open to a loan move in January; to get playing time and put himself in the frame for a World Cup place with Brazil, now managed by Ancelotti.