Recently a celebrated hero, Xabi Alonso finds himself in the middle of a storm at Real Madrid. His job is already at stake in the Champions League against Manchester City on Wednesday.
10.12.2025, 04:30
10.12.2025, 08:12
SDA
Xabi Alonso caused a sensation in his first stint as a professional coach. When he took over at Bayer Leverkusen on October 5, 2022, the team was in penultimate place in the Bundesliga. Under his leadership, Leverkusen still qualified for the Europa League in sixth place. In the following season, Bayer 04 not only won the league title for the first time in the club's history, but also triumphed in the Cup. The only defeat during the entire season came in the Europa League final against Atalanta Bergamo (0:3).
After that, they finished 2nd in the Bundesliga behind Bayern Munich. Swiss national team captain Granit Xhaka, who was under contract with Leverkusen from 2023 to 2025, said of Alonso after his departure: "Coach, thank you for everything. For believing in us, for pushing us when we needed it most - and for always leading us with your heart. You didn't just train us, you inspired us. We will carry your lessons far beyond the pitch."
Only two wins in the last seven games
Alonso's success with Leverkusen left the door wide open. Bayern Munich and Liverpool, for whom he once played, are said to have been interested in him, but the 44-year-old Spaniard was drawn back to his home country to Real Madrid, for whom he also played as a player. So he knew what he was getting himself into.
Only victories are good enough for the Whites, and he is already feeling the effects. Real have only won twice in their last seven games in all competitions and have drawn three times. On Sunday, the Madrilenians lost 2-0 at home to Celta Vigo in La Liga, widening the gap on leaders FC Barcelona to four points.
The media's criticism of the team was correspondingly harsh: It was "a listless, uninspired bunch", wrote "Marca", which ran the headline "Madrid is lost!" in its Monday edition. AS" wrote: "The Bernabeu is panicking."
Change of style does not go down well
But that's not all: internally, there is even said to be a rebellion against Alonso. According to the Spanish program "El Partidazo de COPE", star player Vinicius Junior is said to be one of the initiators to get rid of Alonso. This would not come as a surprise, as the Brazilian is anything but an easy player; his behavior is always a talking point. For example, he stormed into the dressing room in a rage after being substituted in the 72nd minute of the Clásico against FC Barcelona (2:1) and ignored Alonso. Jude Bellingham is also said to be unhappy with Alonso.
It is clear that there has been a change of style with Alonso. His predecessor Carlo Ancelotti gave the players more freedom. Alonso, on the other hand, is stricter and places more emphasis on virtues such as punctuality and discipline. Perhaps this is why some players find him distant and unapproachable. Some also believe that Alonso relies too heavily on video analysis and tactical training.
Whatever the case, it is difficult for a coach to implement his signature style if he does not have the whole team behind him - especially if the stars seem listless and Alonso needs a high level of intensity on the pitch to implement his ideas.
In any case, the club management felt compelled to hold a crisis meeting after the 2-0 defeat against Celta Vigo. Marca reports that Wednesday's home game against Manchester City in the Champions League has been declared the final match for Alonso - even though Real are actually on course to win the competition with four wins from their first five games. This shows just how fast-moving football is. Recently the celebrated hero, Alonso could soon be out of a job.
