Superstar Kylian Mbappé said goodbye to Xabi Alonso from Real Madrid with respectful words. “It was a short time, but it was a pleasure playing for you and learning from you. Thank you for trusting me since day one,” the French attacker wrote on Instagram.
The Spanish football record champions separated from Alonso on Monday after the defeat in the Supercup against FC Barcelona (2:3). He will remember the Basque “as a coach who had clear ideas and knows a lot about football,” emphasized Mbappe, who wished Alonso “good luck” for his “next chapter.”
Reports about Alonso’s allegedly tense relationship with parts of his team had been accumulating for weeks. It was said, for example, that there was a “cold war” in the dressing room, and superstars like Vinicius Júnior and Jude Bellingham were said to be dissatisfied. Recently, however, small indications suggested that the dressing room could be behind the 44-year-old again.
Alonso took over Real at the start of the season and succeeded Carlo Ancelotti. In Germany he won the double with Bayer Leverkusen in 2023/2024. Álvaro Arbeloa, most recently coach of the second team, takes over the Whites.