Real Madrid’s trip to the FIFA Club World Cup ended in disaster. The Spanish giants suffered a heavy 0-4 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-final, shocking their fans and leaving the club at

Germain, Florentino Pérez is fully backing Xabi Alonso—and he's giving him unprecedented authority to reshape Real Madrid’s future.

The most obvious lesson Alonso learned against PSG was a front three of Kylian Mbappé, Gonzalo García and Vinícius Júnior does not work. After only starting two forwards in Real Madrid’s five consecutive victories in the Club World Cup, the former Bayer Leverkusen boss gave the nod to the three attackers in a head-scratching decision.