Real Madrid and coach Xabi Alonso have ended their collaboration after around six months. The Spanish football record champions announced this one day after losing the Super Cup final against arch-rivals FC Barcelona.
Real announced that the separation from the former Leverkusen master coach was by mutual agreement. Alonso’s successor is Álvaro Arbeloa, who took over the Whites’ second team last summer. Before that, the 42-year-old, who also celebrated many successes with the club as a player, worked in Real’s youth team.
The Royals responded to the sporting crisis: In addition to losing the Super Cup final on Sunday against Barça (2:3), Real is also chasing Hansi Flick’s team in the championship. The gap is four points. And the Madrilenians are only seventh in the Champions League and are threatened with the playoffs.
Although the record champions had recently stabilized somewhat in the championship, their performances were still not convincing. The 2:3 against Barcelona was probably one defeat too many for the successful and dazzling President Florentino Pérez. Because the squad around Kylian Mbappé, Vinicius Junior and Antonio Rüdiger should meet the highest standards. After the 2-0 defeat against Celta Vigo at the beginning of December, there was reportedly a crisis meeting of the club’s management.
Alonso was Leverkusen’s coach from October 2022 until last summer. With Bayer he won the DFB Cup in the 2023/2024 season and also brilliantly won the German championship without a single defeat.
With correspondingly high expectations, the Madrilenians had hired their ex-professional as a coach. And at first everything looked like a success story: After the semi-final at the Club World Cup, Alonso was able to celebrate 13 wins in the first 14 competitive games at the beginning of this season. It was the best start to the season the Royals have ever had.
But it was at his former club Liverpool FC (0-1) in the Champions League at the beginning of November that the Spaniard’s downward spiral began. Alonso was no longer able to turn things around.
