Xabi Alonso heard screaming one player's name whenever any Real Madrid man touches the ball
Alonso has found his key man.
Xabi Alonso was heard constantly calling for his Real Madrid players to pass to one star in particular during a pre-season friendly vs WSG Tirol.
Madrid returned to action following their underwhelming Club World Cup campaign which saw them crash out to Champions League winners PSG at the semi-final stage.
The friendly will be the only test Alonso's men will face before they kick off their La Liga campaign against Osasuna next week.
During the first-half, Alonso was heard on the touchline making a demand to all but one of his starting eleven, which included Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Fede Valverde.
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According to MadridXtra Alonso was shouting 'find Arda' at every opportunity to his players, with the Turk filling the void left by the injured Jude Bellingham.
Despite being one of the less experienced and established members of the Madrid squad, this shouldn't come as a surprise due to Alonso's previous praise of the 20-year-old.
Speaking at the Club World Cup in June, the Spaniard claimed that Madrid are at their best when Guler is involved as much as possible.
“I agree with Arda that he needs to be close to the ball," he told reporters.
"He’s one player that is special because the more touches he has, normally the better plays himself and better plays the team."
Guler signed for Madrid in 2023 from Fenerbahce, and has since made 61 appearances scoring 12 goals for the club.
What Xabi Alonso said following Club World Cup exit
"Today it hurts and our level wasn't good enough," he told the media at full-time.
“Going 2-0 down early on is a conditioning factor. We wanted to play an intense game and after that you face it in a different way.
"More than the distance between the two teams is the margin we have to improve. It's the end of this season and not the start of the next.
"We’ll take the positives from this Club World Cup period. We're leaving as a better team.
“We haven't talked about it during the Club World Cup, but from now on we're open to making improvements. We are always looking to improve and there's room for improvement," he added.
Topics: Xabi Alonso, Real Madrid, La Liga, Football
Tom Jenkins