Xabi Alonso was presented yesterday as the new Real Madrid coach. Colofon of a story full of comings and turns and controversial decisions in which the desire of the Donostiarra and the insistence of the CBF have caused this outcome. A happy ending for Real Madrid, for Xabi himself and for a Florentino who has sharpened the fang, intrahistory that can be summarized in three calls.
1. First call: +49 …
The first key call in this story occurred in autumn. They say that it is the preferred station of Xabi Alonso, who decided to leave his comfort zone in Leverkusen, where he was master and lord, to enter on leafy terrain. He picked up his phone and on the other side a known voice was heard, that of José Ángel Sánchez. For January, when the newspaper uncovered the agreement, that call already He had opened a clause -shaped shortcut to free Tolosarra when he called Real Madrid. Operation that had the complicity of Fernando Carro, CEO of the Bayer, and old acquaintance of Florentino Pérez in other business. When Xabi asked yesterday what day his arrival was completed to Real Madrid, the Guipuzcoan elegantly raffled the puddle. He did not seem elegant to reveal that Real Madrid was courting him for months and he corresponded to the Carantoñas.
2. Second call: +55 …
The second call occurred a few days ago. Ednaldo Rodrigues, president of the Brazilian Soccer Confederation, telephoned Florentino Pérez in person to thank him for the facilities that Real Madrid had given to Brazilians to sit down to close the hiring of Carlo Ancelotti. Started last winter, They say that Florentino's favorite station When Real Madrid received a formal call from the CBF informing of his interest in negotiating the hiring of Carletto. “He has a contract with Real Madrid,” they received for response. At that time he was sitting on the Júnior Dorival bench, who had replaced Fernando Diniz in January 2024.
But the situation in Brazil was complicated and on March 26, after the Canarinha He was win by Argentina in the Monumental (4-1), Ednaldo fired Dorival and reopened the Ancelotti folder. “It will be Ancelotti or will not be. ”That was the message that came to José Ángel Sánchez, who immediately called Xabi Alonso, to which the Bayer was pressing to decide on his future. “Breathe! Brazilians come strong for Carlo,” he said. And Alonso, with the same waist he has shown in his presentation with Madrid, dribble all the questions about his future. Madrid gave permission to Brazil to negotiate with Italian, and after falling to Arsenal everything was completed. Until the Leverkusen, through his CEO, Fernando Carro, opened the door in Madrid to Xabi's march: “It's true, there is a gentlemen's pact and can leave if they call him.” Brazilians and Real Madrid agreed even joint communication to announce the march from Ancelotti to Brazil the day after 'losing' the league in Montjuic. But at the last moment Florentino backed down: “Let them communicate. I don't want a kick to have lost the league.” No one dared to discuss the president's decision, which they tell, from the halls of the club's offices, it has'Florentinized'More in this final stage in the presidency of the club.
3. Third call: +34 …
The third call is the most recent. Just when summer looks out, Mourinho's favorite station. Florentino himself was on the side of the phone and his message left no margin: “The Real Madrid train only passes once. If you want to train Real Madrid, who is here on Monday training for the Club World Cup “he warned The President. Solari's option, who came to receive a call to review the passport, vanished and Xabiwhich preferred to win time working on the elaboration of the workforce while the team played in the United States, He had to obey the first order in his new status as an employee of Real Madrid. The second arrived shortly after, when he had to assume that Modric, who wanted to stay one last season, would not be renewed by order of the club.
The story, for the moment, closes this Monday, May 26. Real Madrid scheduled Alonso's presentation at the same time when Luis de la Fuente's press conference was scheduled In Las Rozas to give the selection list for the Final Four of the Nuns League. Where by the way only a Madrid player would appear, who has not yet dressed the shirt: the newly signed Dean Hujsein. The press was forced to choose and assistance in Valdebebas, where he had never presented himself to a Real Madrid coach (?), He greatly surpassed that of the Luis Aragonese Hall of Las Rozas, where from La Fuente, Professor of Tolosarra in his course as coaches, he blessed his signing: “For the questions he asked and the solutions he offered he saw that he had wood. He is a great coach.
While, Florentino locked himself with his hard nucleus (managers and employees) in the pavilion of the Sports City to entertain Xabi COn a very sicilian welcome: “We all knew what your destiny was. You are one of us.” Not a means of communication in the room, beyond the club's propaganda apparatus. An hour and a half after the announced schedule, when from the source he already took the vermouth and the spotlights of the news pointed to Valdebebas, Alonso appeared at a press conference with Emilio Butragueño. 'Trufas' has returned to the family. He really never left. And in this last mandate, after the placid stage with Ancelotti, his 'Florentineza' has pressed his fist. AND Xabi, like it or not, has always been for Pérez a “Spartan of Mourinho” sausage in an Emidio Tucci suit. 'One di noi'.
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