It's a new season, with a new coach, but Xabi Alonso doesn't expect Bayern Munich to radically alter their playing style under new manager Carlo Ancelotti. Instead, the Italian will build on the work done by his predecessor, Pep Guardiola, at the Allianz Arena.
"Every manager has a his own way of working," the Spanish ex-international said to ESPN FC. "Certain details will be different, they have to be. But in the three years with Pep [Guardiola], many players have improved and learned things that will be useful for this year and for years to come. The football knowledge we have built up will stay in the team.
"We are all grateful for what Pep has done for all of us, because we worked with one of the best managers in the game. Now, we have a chance to keep all these good things, with a new manager."
Bayern, the 34-year-old midfielder added, will "stick to the principles" of their passing and possession game.
"We have worked very hard [on them], we are committed to them. We won't suddenly become a counterattacking side; we will continue to control most games but with some changes."
"Most games" -- not all of them. That qualification is small but potentially significant.
Alonso was a member of the Ancelotti-coached Real Madrid team that came to Munich in the spring of 2014 to defend a 1-0 lead from the first leg in the Champions League semifinal. Real ended up inflicting Bayern's heaviest European loss on Guardiola's team, winning 4-0 with perfectly executed counterattacks on their way to lifting La Decima, the club's 10th European Cup.
Can the Italian's tactically less dogmatic approach perhaps push Bayern over the line and succeed where Guardiola's regime fell just a little bit short?
"You never know in football," Alonso shrugs. "We were amazing in the second leg against Atletico Madrid [this season] but not quite good enough in the first leg. You can't always control these things. In the Champions League, you always need a moment of luck [to win it]. All you can do is control [the quality of] the work you do. We will do that."
Alonso's time at Madrid taught him "not to get obsessed" by the Champions League. "We have another chance this year, but it's too early to think about it too much now."
Stints at Juventus, Milan, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Paris St. Germain have earned the 57-year-old Ancelotti a reputation as one of the safest pair of hands in European football. "Carlo is all about football: He has the skills and the knowledge to fulfil expectations that could not be higher," Alonso said. But even for the vastly experienced man in charge, the move to the German record titleholders and the Bundesliga will present new challenges, Alonso suggested.
"You need to know that Bayern are a special club, a massive organisation, but at the same time very family-orientated. In time, Carlo will understand and embrace that feeling, I'm pretty sure. And you also need to get to know the league.
"The physical approach here is probably the hardest in Europe: Most teams are really well-prepared tactically by young coaches, and if you allow those teams the space to run and can't control the situation, you're in for a bad surprise. We can't drop too many points because we will compete with Dortmund, who are a very good team."
Germany's failure to win the Euros in France meant that Alonso remains the only professional in Bayern's dressing room to have won all the major trophies. Was he secretly relieved that he didn't come back to a team full of triumphant Germans, as he did after Germany's World Cup triumph in 2014?
"Not at all," he smiles. "I would have loved it for them to win the double. Some of them are still young, though. Thomas Muller is only 26, for example ... he'll get more chances. Watching the Euros did make me realise, however, what an extraordinary achievement it was to win the Euros [in 2008], the World Cup [in 2010] and the Euros again [in 2012] with Spain."
Bayern's odds of lifting another big trophy should be boosted by a pair of high-profile new signings, Germany centre-back Mats Hummels and young midfielder Renato Sanches of Euro 2016 winners Portugal. "They are great additions," said Alonso. "Mats knows the club and many teammates; it won't be a problem at all for him to fit in.
"Renato Sanches is a different story. He's only 18 but he's got so much power, so much energy. You see the hunger in him to learn and to succeed. I'm looking forward to playing in midfield together with him." It's easy to envisage Alonso acting as mentor to the former Sporting player, even if the veteran is too modest to admit as much. "Maybe I can teach him, but maybe I can also learn things from him as well," he laughs.
First, though, Bayern's preseason tour to the U.S. will offer an opportunity to play one of his and the new manager's former teams, Real Madrid, as well as Milan and Internazionale.
"It's a fun thing to do, to take on big teams in big cities," Alonso said. "And it's good to bring football closer to the American fans, as the game is getting bigger and bigger there." Another big and possibly even bigger season beckons for the Bavarians upon their return to domestic duties next month, and for Alonso personally, there's conceivably an extra incentive. As his three-year-deal at Bayern comes to an end next May, could this campaign be his last one with the team?
"I have absolutely no clue what's going to happen," he said. "I used to look from year to year, but now, I only look from month to month. All I can say is that I'm fully committed to achieving as much as possible with Bayern and then, towards the end of the season, maybe things will be clearer."
Alonso won't rule out a future career as a manager, saying that he "could see it happen" at some point.
"I like to think about football and to understand it. Time will tell. I'm not thinking about that phase yet, only about playing and trying to enjoy and compete at the highest level. That's why I'm here."