Alonso forms a nuclear alliance, but what did he give up?

Vinicius Junior trotted off to be greeted by a handshake and a slap on a back from Xabi Alonso, exactly a month after he had marched down the tunnel, screaming to high heaven that with that guy on the touchline, ‘I’m better off leaving the club’. For good measure, Alonso sought out the Brazilian for an embrace after the final whistle. Given the way the Brazilian had been making his feelings about Alonso felt, this was equivalent to the pair sitting down and shaking hands for the cameras over an international peace treaty.

‘We have to protect each other, and we have to protect the manager,’ explained newly annointed senior statesman Kylian Mbappe, without really being asked…