After several defeats in December, Xabi Alonso was reportedly facing expulsion. Then he got turned around in the championship, but is still going now. The president and a star player play leading roles in the search for reasons.
If a coach loses a game in which he already had to “fear for his job,” then “the pressure increases.” At least these are the common phrases that often end in the rather strange image of a club pulling the ripcord.
Real Madrid believe they are the biggest club in the world and there are good arguments for this from a Eurocentric perspective. After all, Real Madrid has already won the European Cup 15 times, which has been played in the Champions League for more than three decades now.
Real Madrid are also the record champions in Spain, which is extremely important for their self-image, otherwise it would be FC Barcelona, which has 28 championships, eight fewer than the “Royal”.
The Catalans are the arch-rivals against whom defeats are particularly painful. In this respect, the 2:3 on Sunday (January 11, 2026) hurt, especially since the game in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was about a title. However, it was only the Spanish Supercup that was played.
Xabi Alonso, or so it seemed, did not have to worry about his job in the event of a defeat. There is nothing to be heard or read in the reports after the game that the pressure is now increasing on the 44-year-old man, who won the Champions League with Real as a player in 2014.
It wasn’t said on Monday evening that the club had pulled the ripcord, because before the defeat in the game, which was more important in terms of sports policy than sport, Real Madrid had won five games in various competitions. The last defeat to date was on December 10, 2025 in the Champions League against Manchester City, which increased the pressure on Alonso considerably because he had already had to fear for his job.
Officially “consensual Separation”
So why does he have to go now? Or, to take the official account in the statement: Why did the two parties part ways amicably?
In order to be able to give a serious answer, we would need honest answers from Xabi Alonso and Florentino Pérez, the 78-year-old president who is said to have more power among the “royalists” than the King of Spain.
Little white ballet
Honest answers that then find their way into the public cannot be expected. Therefore, the six months in which Alonso led the team, also known as the “white ballet”, must be searched for evidence.
Real Madrid initially won much more often than recently and especially in late autumn, but there was never any talk of the white ballet. Most of the time the points were achieved through solid work. An exception was the victory in the Clásico. At the end of October, Real won 2-1 against FC Barcelona, and very convincingly. However, Vinicius Jr. was also convinced that Alonso was doing him an injustice. The coach replaced the Brazilian winger after just 72 minutes.
Quarrel with Vinicius Jr.
Vinicius Jr. scolded and stalked past Alonso with a gesture as if Alonso had suspended him for three months.
The club’s reaction is an indication of why the coach had to leave, because there was no reaction. A new coach, even if he should be beyond doubt due to his active career and his outstanding success with Bayer Leverkusen – champions in a season without defeat and cup winners – needs the backing of the club if a player dupes him.
Passing each other: Vinicius Jr. and Xabi Alonso
There are said to have been other players besides Vinicius Jr. who had problems with the coach. Therefore, there is also speculation that the linguistic regulation of separation by mutual consent is not so wrong. Alonso, it is said, may have been worn down because of the lack of support from the club’s top management and the latent fear of losing his job.
Pérez, it is said, shouldn’t be so sad that Alonso is no longer there. The newspaper “Mundo Deportivo” even writes that the separation was primarily due to the president’s desire to separate now.
Only four points behind FC Barcelona
There are only limited sporting reasons for this. Real are four points behind leaders FC Barcelona in the championship and are in seventh place in the Champions League with games against AS Monaco and Benfica still remaining.
“Marca”, a newspaper that is generally well informed about Real Madrid, writes: “The board had had doubts about the project for weeks. There was the feeling that he had not yet found the right formula, had not found a connection with the team and that the physical training had not been effective.”
Mbappé praises Alonso: “Clear ideas”
However, the relationship with some players may have been quite good. “I will remember you as a coach with clear ideas who knows a lot about football,” wrote Kylian Mbappé in an Instagram story. Other professionals also have very positive words to say.
“Good luck for the next chapter,” Mbappé wishes, and where this chapter will open has been the subject of speculation since the separation was announced. Pep Guardiola could leave Manchester City, Manchester United is currently looking for an interim solution.
There’s also United’s arch-rivals, where Alonso is a legend. The Spaniard won the Champions League as a player with Liverpool FC in 2005.
And now? Liverpool? Or the arch rival?
Arne Slot is Liverpool’s coach and he hasn’t lost any of the last eleven competitive games. But football has become significantly worse than in the 2024/25 championship season, and the competition for a starting place in the Champions League is breathing down the neck of the fourth-placed team.
On Saturday (January 17th, 2026) Liverpool will play against penultimate FC Burnley, and if this game is not won, Alonso will be associated with his former club even more than he already is.
Klopp and Real Madrid – the obvious rumor
This is as obvious as speculation that Real Madrid could sign Jürgen Klopp as their next coach. “Servus TV”, the Red Bull company’s house channel, for which Klopp gave up his job in Liverpool, has already asked. The answer was: “The coaching market is being mixed up and it’s not a bad thing to see the whole thing from an observer’s role and not think about what it could mean for you, because you’re in the right place where you are.”