SportsMoneyReal Madrid Coach Alonso Has Huge Decision To Make For PSG World Cup TieByTom Sanderson, Senior Contributor. Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights.
Tom Sanderson is a Barcelona-based writer who covers Spanish football.
AuthorJul 08, 2025, 04:44am EDTJul 08, 2025, 04:48am EDTReal Madrid head coach Xabi Alonso has a huge selection call to make ahead of his team's World.
More Cup semifinal clash against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
AFP via Getty Images Real Madrid head coach Xabi Alonso has a huge selection call to make ahead of his team's World Cup semifinal clash against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
The Basque manager, a Madrid midfield legend from his Champions League-winning days in the 2010s, took over from Carlo Ancelotti at the end of the last European season and has done fine work in getting his new employers to the last four of FIFA’s summer tournament.
Though it’s a team effort, a lot of that is down to the punt Alonso took on academy duct Gonzalo Garcia, who has scored important goals against the s of Juventus and Borussia Dortmund in the knockout rounds to put himself in line to win the Golden Boot.
The youngster’s seizing of the moment is in many ways down to Kylian Mbappe and Endrick being unavailable when the World Cup kicked off in mid-June.
While the Brazilian suffered a right hamstring twinge towards the end of May, Mbappe had to endure a bout of gastritis he has since recovered from.
Though Gonzalo Garcia started Saturday’s 3-2 quarterfinal win over Dortmund, Mbappe came off the bench and showed he is sharp enough to score by netting what pretty much ved to be the winner in the 94th minute.
MORE FOR YOU For his biggest game in charge thus far, then, Alonso has a key decision to make on whether Gonzalo or Mbappe starts against the latter’s last in Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain.
That’s if there is only one central 9 berth in a 4-3-3, or if Alonso goes for the same formation against PSG that fields two forwards in a 4-3-1-2.
He went for the latter apach against Dortmund, and there’s also the possibility of Mbappe and Gonzalo being up front together but that would come at the expense of Vinicius Jr.
There might be an argument for ‘Vini’ taking Arda Guler’s spot which is deeper on the left on paper.
But two potential blems there are losing Arda’s playmaking abilities as a more centrally-operating number 10, or the left side being exposed in a brutal fashion by PSG if Vinicius and Mbappe don’t track back to help defend as we saw them refuse to so many times in 2024/2025.
Endrick’s Real Madrid future remains un With it seeming to be a two-horse race at the minute for one striker’s spot, Endrick’s future at Real Madrid remains un.
Joining just a year ago around the same time Mbappe switched from PSG, the Brazilian teenager may seek a loan away from the Bernabeu to earn regular minutes.
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