After two consecutive defeats at home and two pyrrhic away victories against Alavés and Talavera, Xabi Alonso will face this Saturday … another match with an atomic charge at the Bernabéu. Sevilla, whose last triumph at the Chamartín Coliseum triggered the dismissal of Bernd Schuster as coach of the merengue team 17 years ago, will be the definitive test that the Basque will have to pass to eat his nougat as coach of Real Madrid and spend, at least Christmas, in peace.
«It is the last game of the year and of this demanding block in which we have had to play many games. “We want to finish well, achieve the third victory and leave with a good feeling to start 2026 with energy and optimism for all the fronts that we are going to have,” said Xabi Alonso in a press conference in which he said he did not remember that it was Sevilla that precipitated the dismissal of the German coach from Real Madrid after attacking the merengue venue in December 2008 and provoking some defeatist statements on his part that filled Pedja’s patience. Mijatovic, then Ramón Calderón’s right-hand man.
“It seems impossible to me that we can beat Barça at the Camp Nou on Saturday,” said Schuster before the Séptima hero cut his throat to replace him precisely with a former Sevilla player, Juande Ramos. «My goal is to win the game. It’s what’s in our head. “I had no idea about that data,” said Xabi Alonso this Friday, whose position is as fragile as the one the Augsburg strategist had then.
Without a single proclamation of support from the club in the midst of a media hunt that is, in part, a product of that friendly fire that Zidane attacked after his second hit and run, the Tolosarra goes from final to final, knowing that another skid could mean the defenestration of his project even though in the previous one he insisted that he has a “long road” ahead of him.
Beating a Sevilla team that since that 3-4 that blew up Schuster has only been able to scrape a draw in eighteen visits to the Bernabéu would grant a Christmas truce to Xabi Alonso before returning to action on January 4 against Betis and traveling to Jeddah to play in a Spanish Super Cup that could resurrect or bury the Basque. But a defeat or even a draw against the Nervionense team could accelerate events because the four-point disadvantage that Real Madrid has with respect to Barça is a shame.
Mbappé, going for Cristiano’s record
The blaugranas will visit Villarreal on Sunday and Real Madrid hopes to put pressure on the leader by taking the three points in a match for which Xabi Alonso hopes to recover Alaba, Mendy, Asencio and Camavinga, but in which he continues to have a long list of casualties. Trent, Carvajal and Militao will miss the match due to injury. The suspended Carreras and Endrick will also be missing. Brahim, summoned by Morocco for the Africa Cup, will not be there either, and Valverde, who combines a blow to his ankle and a flu process, is a serious doubt.
As it is, Xabi Alonso will have to do, once again, do a little work in the rearguard, to which Rüdiger and Fran García will return, with the main question being who will occupy the right back. He will have more cards to choose from in the midfield and up front, the latter line in which Mbappé can equal or surpass the record of 59 goals in a calendar year with Real Madrid that Cristiano Ronaldo established in 2013.
Preventing Bondy’s star from registering more notches on his revolver is the objective of a Sevilla team that has replicated at home the results it has achieved at the Sánchez Pizjuán: three wins, one draw and four defeats. These good records away from Nervión have contributed to Matías Almeyda’s team settling in the middle of the table and looking towards European positions, fleeing the emergencies in which Sevilla found itself involved in past campaigns.
«The team we are going to face has the three best players in the world currently: Vinicius, Mbappé and Bellingham. And when you face the three best in the world, I don’t know what medicine there is to stop them,” the Azul coach remarked before a most demanding match, who broke a spear for Xabi Alonso. «He is a correct person who has given a lot to Real Madrid. “He deserves respect,” said Pelado, who will not be able to count on Akor Adams and Ejuke due to the Africa Cup but who recovers Nyland, Kike Salas and Marcao to try to turn the page on the cup elimination suffered at the hands of Alavés.
-Probable alignments:
Real Madrid.
Seville: Vlachodimos, Carmona, Cardoso, Gudelj, Castrín, Oso, Mendy, Sow, Agoumé, Isaac Romero and Peque.
Referee: Muñiz Ruiz (Galician Committee).
Time: 9:00 p.m.
Stadium: Santiago Bernabéu.
TV: Movistar Plus+.
