Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid looks built around one superstar

Real Madrid are clinging to Kylian Mbappé in this early stretch of the season. Xabi Alonso’s project has kicked off with encouraging signs – three points taken against Osasuna and a solid defensive display – but there is still work to be done, particularly in terms of fluidity and attacking production. What Alonso does not need to worry about, however, is who leads his team on the pitch. That man is Mbappé.

The French forward settled the game against Osasuna with a moment of brilliance. Frustrated at finding no space in the middle, he drifted right, burst past defenders, cut inside the box and was brought down. He stepped up to take the penalty himself, making clear that this season the spot-kick hierarchy will be fixed – not shared around as it was under Carlo Ancelotti last year, with mixed and often costly results.

It was his first goal of a campaign in which he aims to top last season’s already remarkable tally of 44 – a number that could have been even higher had illness not ruled him out of the Club World Cup group stage. In the summer tour of the United States, Madrid looked comfortable with a subdued version of Vinícius and the emergence of Gonzalo, but the start of the new season has reset the picture. In this new Madrid, there is no leader other than Mbappé.

Alonso himself admits as much: “I’ll try to help him, for the team to help him and for him to help the team to win matches. For him to feel comfortable and for the others as well. This is about the team, and Kylian is a fundamental part of it – because of his weight, because of his influence on the rest. The better the pieces fit together, the more it will be one of the keys of the season, for us to be able to play as a team with the very good players we have. That will be our strength.”

Nor is this a matter of tactics. Whether Madrid play with three forwards or two up top, Mbappé will spearhead the attack. Playing through the middle is no longer a problem – it is the others who must adjust around him. Chief among them is a player whose stock has fallen in this opening phase: Vinícius.

Vinícius gives Alonso work to do

While questions about Mbappé before the Oviedo match were framed in glowing terms, those about Vinícius carried a far more uneasy undertone. Alonso’s responses – as with those on Rodrygo – were vague and noncommittal: “All the players are important, I count on all of them, and from the moment we draw up the squad to when we choose the starting XI, anyone can be important in the team. He looks good to me. We’re just getting started. Everyone is eager to have a good year and has the right attitude. That’s fundamental.”

It was a generic answer, especially given that Alonso has shown he can be pointed and personal when he chooses – as he was about Mbappé, and even about 16-year-old Franco Mastantuono. With Vinícius, though, Alonso knows the task is delicate: he must recover the Brazilian’s best version in a difficult context. Vinícius is coming off a disappointing year after missing out on the Ballon d’Or, his contract renewal with Madrid is still unresolved, and rumors of a Saudi move, faint though they may be, continue to linger in the background.

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