The Spanish 43-year-old is on an unbeaten run after being thrown into the cauldron by tackling the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup after replacing Carlo Ancelotti on 1 June. He surprisingly has yet to adopt his highly successful 3-4-2-1 formation employed at Bayer Leverkusen.
He utilized a 4-3-3 set-up for the stalemate against Simone Inzaghi’s Al-Hilal and the comfortable victory over CF Pachuca squad. His gamble of switching to a more attacking 3-5-2 approach for the must-win showdown against RB Saltzburg paid dividends, as they romped home to top the group and earn a last 16 clash with Juventus.
The former defender boasts a much more attack-minded, balanced, deeper playing style than Juve who look defensively frail. The Turin titans are likely to struggle against dominant possession for the second game on the bounce.
They were completely overwhelmed by defending champions Manchester City, and lost key defender Nicolo Savona to an ankle injury during the 5-2 drubbing. However, Juventus did bag 12 goals in their three group games so cannot be underestimated.
Real’s squad is brimming with high-profile stars who will want to shine under the spotlight of the highly lucrative Club World Cup, with talisman Kylian Mbappe back in training and potentially available to face Juventus. His presence is a danger for any opponent, having netted 42 goals last season.
Alonso has superbly managed his squad rotation to get the best out of Jude Bellingham, Federico Valverde and Vinicius Jr., as well as unearth the talented Gonzalo Garcia.
Real Madrid Player Fact
Garcia filled Mbappe’s boots with aplomb, finding the back of the net twice and providing a goal assist, during the three group games.
Key Real Madrid Players
Goal assists: Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Jr.
Goalscorers: Gonzalo Garcia, Kylian Mbappe & Federico Valverde
Set pieces: Trent Alexander-Arnold & Federico Valverde
Corners: Trent Alexander-Arnold
Penalties: Kylian Mbappe & Vinicius Jr.
Real Madrid Club World Cup Games
18 June: Al-Hilal 1 Real Madrid 1 (Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida)
22 June: CF Pachuca 1 Real Madrid 3 (Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina)
26 June: Real Madrid 3 RB Saltzburg (Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
1 July: Juventus vs Real Madrid (Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida)
Real Madrid expected line-up
Juventus possible starting XI: Courtois; Alexander-Arnold, Huijsen, Rudiger, Fran Garcia; Tchouameni, Bellingham, Valverde; Arda Guler, Gonzalo, Vinicius Jr.
JUVENTUS CLUB WORLD CUP SQUAD
GOALKEEPERS
Giovanni Daffara, Michele Di Gregorio, Giovanni Garofani and Carlo Pinsoglio.
DEFENDERS
Bremer, Andrea Cambiaso, Alberto Costa, Federico Gatti, Javier Gil, Pierre Kalulu, Lloyd Kelly, Jonas Rouhi, Daniele Rugani and Nicolo Savona.
MIDFIELDERS
Vasilije Adzic, Francisco Conceicao, Manuel Locatelli, Douglas Luiz, Weston McKennie, Khephren Thuram, Teun Koopmeiners, Filip Kostic, Augusto Owusu, Nicolo Turco and Timothy Weah.
STRIKERS
Lorenzo Anghele, Nicolo Cudrig, Nico Gonzalez, Tommaso Mancini, Samuel Mbangula, Arkadiusz Milik, Kolo Muani, Alessandro Pietrelli, Dusan Vlahovic and Kenan Yildiz.