Introducing the six staff members Xabi Alonso will work with at Real Madrid | OneFootball

Xabi Alonso’s era at Real Madrid has already begun and will be put to the test as early as this month when the FIFA Club World Cup kicks off.

If the new manager’s ambitions were ever in doubt, his recent press conferences have gone a long way in popularising his school of thought and the changes he intends to bring about at the club.

The change in management, however, does not limit itself to the level of the head coach for Alonso has brought along an elaborate team to help him reach his objectives by putting together different aspects of the team’s preparation.

Here are the six members of Alonso’s team and the role they will play at Real Madrid.

Sebas Parrilla – Assistant Manager

Assistant coaches are perhaps the most important aspect of any manager’s team and finding an individual who shares the same vision and goals is often a bottleneck for managers. Davide Ancelotti played that role for Carlo Ancelotti, and Parrilla will play the same role for Alonso.

The 47-year-old tactician is no stranger to Spanish football and has been in the country for close to three decades now. He has worked at several levels of Real Madrid’s youth system as manager or assistant manager where he eventually met and began working with Alonso.

Sebastian Parilla with Xabi Alonso. (Photo by Laszlo Szirtesi/Getty Images)

From there, he travelled with the coach to Real Sociedad B and subsequently Bayer Leverkusen as the assistant coach and is now returning to Real Madrid in the same position.

Ismael Camenforte – Physical trainer

Camenforte will be the physical trainer under Alonso and is qualified for the position with a degree in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences from the University of Lleida.

He worked in Barcelona’s La Masia between 2011 and 2018, then went on to pursue a new adventure in the United States before rendering his services for the Danish national team.

Having crossed paths with Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen, he now intends to continue his association with the manager at Real Madrid.

Alberto Encinas – Technical Assistant

Encinas too has a history at Barcelona’s La Masia where he worked for the Juvenil A and Juvenil B teams. Eventually, he moved to Leverkusen in 2021 where he ended up working with Alonso.

He will continue to be the manager’s technical assistant during his tenure in Madrid which is quite easily the biggest position he has had yet in the sport.

Luis Llopis – Goalkeeping coach

Llopis is a renowned goalkeeping coach and has a long history at Real Madrid in working with shotstoppers and aiding in their development.

Luis Llopis will continue at Real Madrid under Alonso. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

He began his goalkeeping coaching career at Real Madrid’s U17 team before heading out for experience at Athletic Club, Mallorca, Levante and Granada. He returned to Real Madrid in the 2015-16 season and eventually left for Real Sociedad between 2018-19 and 2020-21.

Since then, he has again been with Real Madrid and will continue at the club under Xabi Alonso.

Benat Labaien – Technical Specialist

Labaien has a long CV with experience at Atletico Madrid, Parla, the Spanish U-17 National Team, Alcobendas, Fuenlabrada, Elche, Leeds, Real Sociedad, Tokushima Vortis, Al-Wakrah and Real Zaragoza.

He is a specialist at tactical and technical analysis of both the team and rival dynamics and will thus join Alonso as a critical member of the think-tank. He knows the coach from his time at Real Sociedad B and will continue his journey with Alonso in Spain.

Antonio Pintus – Performance manager

The most famous of the six members of Alonso’s team, Pintus is well-known at Real Madrid and has worked extensively with the squad in recent years. He was a part of Carlo Ancelotti’s team as well but did not leave the club with the Italian tactician.

He was the physical trainer in charge of the first team, but questions were raised after the team’s record last season and he will thus not continue in the same post.

Instead, he will be Alonso’s performance manager and will be responsible for tracking and evaluating the performances of all players.