Xabi Alonso doubles down on control and efficiency at Real Madrid, reviving a Mourinho style travel plan by training at Valdebebas before Liverpool while tightening routines, leveraging drone analysis and prioritizing performance focused logistics.
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Xabi Alonso continues shaping his model at Real Madrid, and each passing week brings a clearer picture of how he wants the club to operate on and off the pitch.
Since arriving last summer and taking over from Carlo Ancelotti before the Club World Cup, the coach from Tolosa has pushed through a series of adjustments at Valdebebas that speak to control, precision and efficiency. Daily routines have tightened. Training sessions are monitored with new layers of detail, including drone footage that captures distances between lines, pressing triggers and body orientations in small-sided games. Staff responsibilities have been redistributed to speed up feedback loops. The overall idea is simple. Reduce noise, increase focus, and make every minute count.
The latest decision reflects that same logic. Real Madrid will not hold their traditional pre match training at the match venue before facing Liverpool. Instead, the squad will train at 11:00 a.m. in Valdebebas, complete recovery and nutrition protocols on familiar ground, then fly to England in the afternoon. Only Xabi Alonso and one player selected by the club will set foot on Anfield the day before the game, and only to meet the UEFA media obligations that cannot be altered. The rest of the group will remain at the team hotel, following a routine designed to minimize disruption.
Why skip the last session at the stadium. From a performance standpoint, the benefits of staying at Valdebebas are significant. The players work on a perfectly known pitch with consistent surface quality and a reference for timing, weight of pass and movement patterns that have been developed there all season. The gym, recovery rooms and analysis suites are adjacent to the pitch, which allows the staff to stack micro sessions before and after training without dead time. If the medical team needs blood flow restriction equipment, if the analysts want to replay a pressing sequence on a large screen, or if a set piece coach needs to adjust a routine on the whiteboard and test it again on the field, all of that is possible within minutes.
Travel management also benefits. Flying after lunch compresses the exposure to travel fatigue and circadian disruption. The sequence becomes predictable for players. Train, eat, rest, travel, settle, sleep. The day does not get sliced by a morning flight and an afternoon stadium session. The recovery window moves in one block. Small choices like this accumulate across a season with midweek European nights and domestic fixtures on the weekend.
There is a clear precedent inside the club. During the Mourinho years, Real Madrid adopted a similar approach in European weeks. Mourinho preferred to complete the tactical work at Valdebebas and keep the match venue visit to the bare minimum for press duties. Xabi Alonso lived that routine as a player. He understands its rhythms and the calm it can create. By picking up that baton now, he signals a preference for process over theatre. The session is a working rehearsal, not a show.
The logistics for Liverpool have been planned along these lines. Train at 11:00 a.m., follow the recovery block and lunch, then depart Madrid at 4:00 p.m. The flight is scheduled to land in the United Kingdom at 5:35 p.m. local time, which is one hour behind Spain. The group will transfer directly to the INNSiDE by Meliá Liverpool hotel. Xabi Alonso and a designated player will head to Anfield with the communications department for the official pre match press conferences, then return to the hotel for the evening routine.
This choice also fits with the technical direction that has been emerging in recent months. The drone is not a gimmick. It provides the staff with a tactical camera angle that aligns with what analysts use in match coding. Pressing lines can be measured in real time. Full backs can be shown the exact distances to the interior midfielders during rest defense. Strikers can study their starting positions for runs in behind when the ball reaches the half space. These are small adjustments that need repetition in a controlled environment. A familiar training base helps lock them in.
Discipline on the day to day has tightened as well. Reporting times are stricter. Nutritional plans have fewer exceptions. The message to the group is consistent. Standards are not negotiable. When a club competes on multiple fronts, these marginal gains help manage energy across the calendar. A smoother Tuesday is built on a quiet Monday.
There is also a media management angle. By separating training from the stadium routine, the club reduces the circus that often surrounds open segments at the match venue, where cameras look for clues about lineups or fitness. Valdebebas provides privacy. The technical staff can run shape drills or restart routines without the fear of giving away a plan. The only unavoidable exposure is the press conference, and that is handled by the coach and a single player.
Some will argue that a stadium session helps players adapt to the turf, the lighting and the sightlines. In many cases that is true, especially with artificial pitches or unusual surfaces. At Anfield the playing conditions are elite and predictable. The trade off favors control and continuity. The team will still arrive in time to conduct the usual boots and studs checks with the kit staff and to gather the information needed for footings and ball roll. That process no longer requires a full session.
The calendar context matters. Real Madrid have already played two home games in this European campaign, against Marseille and Juventus, and one away trip to Almaty where travel complexity forced an earlier departure and eliminated any chance of training at home. In that scenario, the club adapted. For Liverpool, the flight plan allows the preferred routine. The staff will take it every time the schedule permits.
From a player perspective, the benefits are tangible. Veterans appreciate predictable rhythms. Younger players benefit from the clarity of repetition. The medical department can stage pre activation protocols with precision. The strength and conditioning coaches can run short neuromuscular primers in the gym immediately before the field session. Recovery tools are on hand afterwards. Sleep quality improves when the evening is not split by a late stadium run out. All of this feeds into freshness on matchday.
There is a psychological thread too. Anfield is renowned for its atmosphere, especially on European nights. Some coaches like to give players a feel for the stands the day before. Xabi Alonso is betting on internal focus. The message is to keep the eyes on the tasks. The emotional temperature will rise naturally at kickoff. Until then, training is training, and preparation lives at home.
The decision does not guarantee a result. It does underline how the coach wants his team to work. Structure over spectacle, routine over ritual, and an insistence that details are better handled in a space the club controls. It is not a revolution, but it is another step toward a model that prizes method, clarity and repeatable habits.
What to watch as the match approaches. Set piece coordination may show the benefit of those drone assisted rehearsals, with timing on far post runs and second ball structures that depend on spacing. The first 15 minutes after kickoff will reveal whether the travel routine delivered freshness. Substitution patterns may hint at workload management that started two days earlier with the training split. None of these elements will be obvious to outsiders, but inside the group they will be treated as outcomes of a deliberate plan.
In returning to a Mourinho style schedule without the theatrics that sometimes surrounded that era, Xabi Alonso is writing his own version. The coach has modern tools, a high performance base and a squad that understands the importance of consistent habits. The Liverpool trip is another test. The preparation is already written into the week.
Updated: 12:40, 30 Oct 2025
