The Spanish football club Real Madrid and coach Xabi Alonso say goodbye to each other. The club announced this on Monday a message on its website. Alonso will be succeeded by former Madrid player and Spanish international Álvaro Arbeloa.
The decision follows a series of poor performances by Real Madrid, culminating in Sunday’s Super Cup loss to rival FC Barcelona. In November and December the club managed to win only three times in nine matches. In the Spanish league, the club dropped to second place, four points behind Barcelona.
Last summer, Alonso, who previously played more than one hundred and fifty games for Real Madrid and won the Champions League with the club, was brought in full of expectations. In the few years that he was at the helm of German Bayer Leverkusen, Alonso had proven to be a promising trainer. With innovative football, he managed to bring the German club to the first national title in club history in 2024.
But at Real Madrid the desired results did not materialize. According to various media a large portion of the players would not have a good relationship with Alonso. For example, he was in conflict with star player Vinícius Júnior, who has now indicated that he does not want to renew his contract.
Álvaro Arbeloa, former teammate of Alonso, was until recently coach of Real Madrid’s second team. It is not clear whether he will succeed Alonso, or whether he will only take over temporarily until the club has found a new trainer.
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