Xabi Alonso's exit from Real Madrid was confirmed after their Spanish Super Cup defeat to Barcelona
Xabi Alonso speaks in a press conference
Xabi Alonso lasted only eight months at Real Madrid(Image: Getty Images)
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Xabi Alonso's reign as Real Madrid boss was considerably shorter than his stay in the Spanish capital while playing for the club. The former Liverpool star left his position as Madrid boss on Monday, with a 3-2 defeat to Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final the day prior marking his last game in charge.
Despite winning 24 of 34 games, tensions with club president Florentino Perez and star player Vinicius Jr proved too much to fix, resulting in the Spaniard mutually agreeing to depart.
It's out with the old and in with the new at the Santiago Bernabeu as it's another ex-Liverpool player who has taken charge. Alvaro Arbeloa, who was a colleague of Alonso's at Liverpool, Madrid and for their country, was promoted to head coach after a stint managing the club's reserve team.
Arbeloa is well-acquainted with the high standards that exist at Madrid and despite being branded Perez's "puppet" by Spanish outlet sport.es, the paper claims the former full-back is a better fit than Alonso because of the alignment he has with the president.
The publication wrote: "He's a manager very much to Pérez's liking because he allows star players to play freely, manages the dressing room well, and avoids elaborate tactical experiments that, in his opinion, only complicate matters."
While Arbeloa has the support of Perez, it's certainly not shared by a Madrid hero, with former club veteran Ivan Helguera making his thoughts perfectly clear on Arbeloa's appointment via social media.
Arne Slot and Xabo Alonso shake hands
Xabi Alonso has already been linked with a return to Liverpool(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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Reported by Marca, the 50-year-old, who played alongside Arbeloa at Madrid during the 2004/05 campaign, took to X and simply wrote "Arbeloa" accompanied by two laughing faces and two facepalm emojis.
Seemingly not a fan of his compatriot capturing the top job at Madrid, Arbeloa now has the responsibility of turning around a season that has been plagued by disharmony within the walls of the Bernabeu.
Marca also claimed that Alonso's dismissal was partly due to the broken promise of entertaining football and constant pressing that the Spaniard was never able to deliver with his squad. The outlet wrote: "The team almost always looked short of vigour and energy, with physical preparation under suspicion.
Liverpool's Xabi Alonso (right) and Alvaro Arbeloa (left) and Chelsea's Joe Cole battle for the ball during the Champions League semi-final first leg match at Stamford Bridge
Xabi Alonso's former Liverpool team-mate Alvaro Arbeloa has replaced him at Real Madrid(Image: PA)
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"The same difficulties as with Ancelotti against low blocks continued and the famous pressing, which was supposed to be the team's hallmark, was barely seen. There were only loose glimpses in some matches, such as the La Liga match against Barcelona at the Bernabeu.
"An oasis in the desert of a team that did not emanate the promised electricity and that, as the games went by, came to resemble more and more Ancelotti's Madrid in 2024-25." Arbeloa's appointment hasn't stopped portions of the Spanish media, specifically Mundo Deportivo, from suggesting that Madrid are to "explore the possibility" of luring Jurgen Klopp back into football management.
The ex-Liverpool boss has long been linked with a move to Spain but the German has already ruled out Madrid when discussing Alonso's exit. Regarding the tension around the club that has been reported, Klopp said: "I think we’d already been hearing rumours for a while.
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"And now – I don’t know if that’s where your question was going – but this has absolutely nothing to do with me, and it didn’t trigger anything for me either, which would probably have been the follow-up question."
While the Spanish media appear united in the belief that his time was rightly up, Alonso was seemingly unaware that he'd reached the end after the defeat to Barcelona. When asked how his side would react to the loss in Jeddah, Alonso said: "We have to move on as soon as possible.
"It's the least important of the competitions we play. We have to look forward, try to get players back [from injury], get our morale back and keep going." While Alonso and Madrid were a perfect fit in his playing days where his contributions led to five major trophies, including the Champions League, it never quite gelled this time round between the two parties.