Xabi Alonso left his role as Real Madrid head coach after just seven months. He departed with the club second in La Liga, four points behind Barcelona.
Alvaro Arbeloa, Real Madrid B coach since June 2025 and six years with the academy, was named Alonso’s replacement. The announcement came a day after Real lost to Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia.
Alonso joined Real Madrid with an impressive record, having led Bayer Leverkusen to their first Bundesliga title, a German Cup win, and a UEFA Europa League final.
The 44-year-old, who replaced Carlo Ancelotti in the summer, had also been linked to the Liverpool job before choosing to stay in Germany for another season. Alonso’s stint at the Bernabeu was brief, sparking questions about his departure.
According to The Athletic, he faced authority issues, as some senior players resisted the modern methods he and his staff introduced. From the start, they demanded more pressing, tactical work, and discipline – ironically, the same approach the club had asked for as a shift from the final days of Carlo Ancelotti’s second spell.
“At the end of October, Alonso and Madrid looked to be riding high. After beating Barcelona in El Clasico on October 26, they seemed to be enjoying their best moment of the season. Madrid lost four times to Barca last term, so the 2-1 home victory was richly savoured.
“But all that glitters is not gold. In the 72nd minute of the game, with Madrid already leading by that scoreline, Vinicius Jr was substituted. The Brazil forward reacted angrily. As he left the pitch and went straight down the tunnel, he shouted “Always me! I’m leaving the team, it’s better if I leave, I’m leaving” in images captured by broadcaster DAZN.
“It was a hugely dramatic moment — and in truth it was just the tip of the iceberg. At that point, When Alonso was hired as Ancelotti’s replacement in May, he arrived with the Madrid hierarchy’s blessing to impose more discipline.
“He inherited a dressing room accustomed to things that he did not believe were best for a team. The new coaching staff wanted more intensity in training and in matches. More pressing, more tactical instruction and analysis. They asked for better punctuality and more privacy around the group, restricting access to training sessions and the matchday dressing room in order to shield the team and prevent leaks to the media.
“By October, this had led to a significant feeling of discontent behind the scenes. Sources said players were upset to find they now had little freedom to express their qualities on the pitch, contrasting Alonso’s more demanding and rigid approach with how things were under Ancelotti.
“Madrid’s home win against Barcelona was on a Sunday. Among the players unconvinced by Alonso’s footballing ideas and personal approach were Vinicius Jr, Jude Bellingham and Federico Valverde. Others such as Kylian Mbappe, Aurelien Tchouameni, Arda Guler, Dani Ceballos and Raul Asencio believed in the coach.
“But Vinicius Jr was at the centre of the situation — as well as the fallout, which lasted for months. In the days following his Clasico tantrum, the 25-year-old met with Madrid president Perez. He apologised for his behaviour during the match. He also explained that he felt extending his contract was not in his best interest while his relationship with Alonso remained strained, with his deal due to run until June 2027.
“Talks on a renewal have not progressed since. That same day, Vinicius Jr also apologised at Madrid’s training ground, with team-mates, Alonso and the coaching staff present. But it came as a surprise, to figures at various levels at Madrid, that he did not mention Alonso by name in his social media message on the subject. Sources close to Vinicus Jr confirmed leaving him out of the apology was a deliberate move.
“Another key moment was the match against Athletic on Wednesday, December 3. Some players expressed their dissatisfaction with the trip to Bilbao taking place the day before the match, rather than on the day itself. Alonso mediated by promising two days off in the event of a victory.
“Madrid won 3-0 at San Mames, putting in a highly convincing performance. But a shambolic 2-0 home defeat against Celta followed on the Sunday. The Bernabeu booed the team loudly, something that has rarely happened. The decision to give the players time off in the build-up was criticised — both inside and outside the club. In the eyes of Madrid’s leadership, the situation was now extremely worrying.
“In a month and a half, they had gone from having a five-point lead over Barcelona to trailing by a four-point deficit. The board held discussions on Alonso’s future. Arbeloa emerged as the leading potential replacement. In May, he had been promoted from managing Madrid’s under-19s to their reserve side in Spain’s third tier, Real Madrid Castilla.
“Both he, Alonso and his staff were aware of the landscape. Another name widely mentioned was Zinedine Zidane. Madrid sources with close connections to the club’s decision makers suggested the Frenchman’s candidacy was being considered, but more as a desired scenario.
“They pointed to the special relationship between him and Perez, who would have made any approach discreetly and privately — without confirming any contact was made. Sources close to the 53-year-old, who led Madrid to three consecutive Champions League titles from 2016-2018, spoke of his desire to one day manage France.”
“Madrid’s next match after the Celta fiasco was against Manchester City. Seven players were out injured, with Mbappe only fit enough for the bench (although he did not come on). This situation brought back the much-discussed issue of last year’s fitness problems.
“At the time, there were internal tensions between Ancelotti and his staff and the physical trainer Antonio Pintus, a figure favoured by Perez. Pintus was sidelined under Alonso, relegated from his daily involvement on the training pitch to a new position as ‘performance director’, a role Perez created for him.
“Recent weeks have seen veteran doctor Niko Mihic return to a prominent role overseeing all medical matters — he is another Perez favourite. There has been a great deal of tension and political manoeuvring around Madrid’s recent spate of injuries. The same is true of squad planning and recruitment.
“When Alonso said in a recent press conference that Madrid had to “keep an eye on the market”, a senior Madrid source told The Athletic there were no plans to bring anyone in and criticised the manager for not making more of the squad he had.
“Alonso and his staff were given a greater say than Ancelotti in signings last summer, but they wanted further reinforcements — beyond the €180million (£156m; $210m) spent on Carreras, Dean Huijsen, Franco Mastantuono and Trent Alexander-Arnold, who has been injured for most of this season.
“They particularly desired a tempo-dictating midfielder, somebody more capable of linking play between attack and defence — as Toni Kroos and Luka Modric once did. Madrid’s record revenues are the largest ever seen in world football.
“The Athletic’s recent in-depth financial analysis showed they have spent €786million on transfers over the past decade — less than the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ and Paris Saint-Germain, with Newcastle United not far behind. They have also borrowed €1.17billion to fund the renovation of the Santiago Bernabeu.
“Perhaps the largest, almost certainly most commented-on, problem Alonso has had to deal with is the nature of managing Madrid’s Galacticos. By December, Alonso’s struggles to get the team playing how he wanted had reached a head. One source involved in day-to-day work last season had sympathy for him.
“The problem is not Xabi,” they said. “Mbappe, Vinicius Jr and Bellingham are incompatible; you can’t have a balanced team with those three.” Fans also seemed to have a degree of sympathy. The Bernabeu crowd appeared to be implicitly supporting the coach when Vinicius Jr and other underperforming players were whistled by fans during recent victories against Sevilla and Real Betis either side of the winter break.
“That person quoted above did not even mention Rodrygo, another attacking star Alonso had to try and fit in, and in fact the one that perhaps improved most over the course of the past few months.”
“Against Alaves on December 14, in what was a must-win game, Alonso picked Mbappe, Vinicius Jr, Bellingham and Rodrygo as starters for the first time — apparently abandoning the system he had been trying to impose, and probably pleasing those senior club figures who had been clamouring for such a move.
“Three days later, another hugely revealing moment helped illustrate the atmosphere between players and the coaching staff. In a Copa del Rey match at third-tier Talavera de la Reina, Madrid were suffering more than anyone expected, and thanks to a dramatic late save from Andriy Lunin they went through with a 3-2 win. After Talavera brought themselves back into things, Madrid’s substitutes were seen laughing on the bench.
“When the final whistle came, Alonso looked exhausted. He stayed seated in the dugout for a few seconds and appeared to say to himself: “Ay, la hostia”. Bloody hell. The board’s position at this point was to try and give Alonso as much time as results would allow. For them, that time was up after Sunday’s Clasico defeat.
“There had already been concerns about the team’s ability to compete in big games after the 4-0 loss to PSG in the Club World Cup semi-finals in July, and September’s 5-2 thrashing across the city against Atletico Madrid.
“A senior source said they didn’t see anything “extraordinary” in the decision to fire Alonso as, in their view, the team had to be performing better, and the head coach was always the easiest figure to change.”