No Vinícius: Xabi Alonso’s planned Real Madrid XI before Alexander-Arnold injury | OneFootball

Real Madrid head coach Xabi Alonso intended to omit a headline member of his attacking ranks from the club’s starting line-up to face Paris Saint-Germain.

That’s according to journalist Rubén Martín of Diario AS, who points towards Vinícius Jr. as the player in question.

Real Madrid of course marked their return to action on Wednesday night, locking horns with Paris Saint-Germain with a place in the Club World Cup final on the line.

The aforementioned Vinícius featured from the off in the matchup, but made little impact en route to Los Blancos being put to the sword by four goals to nil.

Xabi Alonso was singled out for heavy criticism on the back of the clash, in particular for his overly attacking setup.

Real Madrid set up with all of Vinícius, Kylian Mbappé and Gonzalo García at MetLife Stadium.

As alluded to above, though, if the latest word stemming from the media is anything to go by, this only came owing to a late tactical shake-up.

As per a report from Rubén Martín, Xabi Alonso’s plan was to set up with Gonzalo and Mbappé as his frontline against PSG.

After Trent Alexander-Arnold was ruled out through injury, forcing Federico Valverde to right-back, however, Vinícius was drafted back into a starting role.

Conor Laird – GSFN