MADRID :The long-awaited arrival of coach Xabi Alonso was cheerfully celebrated by Real Madrid fans in May as the former club great came with high expectations following his trophy-laden stint at Bayer Leverkusen after Carlo Ancelotti headed to Brazil.

But Alonso's honeymoon period came to a jarring halt with a 4-0 thrashing by Paris St Germain in the Club World Cup semi-finals, leaving him scrambling to fix tactical blunders while figuring out how to stop Barcelona's attacking juggernaut ahead of their LaLiga opener at home to Osasuna on August 19.

The new coach had enjoyed a promising start to his tenure, taking his team unbeaten to the semis despite missing striker Kylian Mbappe for most of the tournament due to illness.

But the Spaniard's decision to abandon the five-man defence tha

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