No Identity, No Control: Three Clear Reasons Xabi Alonso Was Sacked by Real Madrid
So there is finally an answer to the main question that hung in the air after Real Madrid’s 3–2 defeat to Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup Clásico: Xabi Alonso has been dismissed.
When you lose as Real Madrid coach, that is already a problem in the stands. When you lose to Barcelona, prepare for catastrophe. The only way to heal such wounds is revenge in the next Clásico – and this last meeting with the blaugrana, painful and bitter to the point of tears, will stay in the fans’ memory at least until the next one.
Alonso, who had already been walking a tightrope, was always going to face more problems after this. On one side, the more sympathetic section of Madrid points to the treatment room, which has started to resemble a conveyor belt for Los Blancos’ players – Éder Militão, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Kylian Mbappé all missed the Super Cup final. On the other, none of that explains why Hansi Flick’s side were allowed to take control from the opening minutes.
Real did not collapse because of individual quality – just look at the goals scored by Vinícius and Gonzalo García – nor because of fitness, as they actually won more duels on the night, 54 to Barcelona’s 43. The collapse was tactical and structural, precisely in the areas the coaching staff are responsible for.
In situations like this, some questions are inevitable. For example: when was that “rock’n’roll football” Alonso promised at the start supposed to arrive? What the Bernabéu saw would barely qualify as soft rock. Florentino Pérez, in the end, decided to pull the plug.
«We lacked the precision to take the game to penalties. At the end we still had the strength for one last push. Our physical condition and the injuries are preventing us from finding stability and distributing the workload evenly,» Alonso said after the defeat.
The first alarm bell actually rang before kick-off, when the line-ups were being announced. Real initially published a starting XI with Arda Güler, then quietly changed the graphic: García would start up front instead. Given the goal the striker ended up scoring and how anonymous the Turk was in his 20-plus minutes, that decision looks justified. But the very fact of such uncertainty is troubling. That was warning sign number one.
Right up to kick-off it was unclear which system Madrid would use – 4-3-3 or 4-4-2. In both cases, someone was going to have to play out of position. Alonso accepted significant risk and started to shuffle formations on the fly. First it showed up in the numbers – by half-time Barça had enjoyed 76% possession – and then on the scoreboard.
The second problem was psychological. Alonso regularly looked irritated on the touchline, as if he simply could not get a grip on the game. Anyone who remembers his Bayer Leverkusen – where players burst forward and combined almost at the snap of his fingers – can see with the naked eye that the system in Madrid is not yet in place. But it is also difficult to build anything when the raw materials are constantly missing.
Real rarely managed to play the 3-4-2-1 that made their coach’s name. Either there were not enough fit defenders, or a key link in the structure broke down, or the star agitator Vinícius decided to sulk. The budget is not bottomless either, and there is no guarantee the club will be able to sign all the missing pieces over the next two transfer windows. Perhaps, the thought has crossed some minds, it really would be easier to find someone “less demanding”.
Spanish journalist Juan Ignacio García-Ochoa of Marca neatly summed up the third reason for Alonso’s downfall – the completely different world in which he seemed to be living alone: Real Madrid, once again, has become a team without a clear identity, while Xabi Alonso is a coach stuck between his principles and a reality he no longer controls.
Polls on social media and the backing of several former players suggest Alonso should have been kept in place. You cannot build a system in chaos, they argue – at least not in six months. Jonathan Woodgate and Karim Benzema both spoke publicly in support of the coach, with the latter refusing to blame him for anything: «There are big names here; everyone has to understand for himself what to do.»
Even so, Pérez remained at a crossroads. In the middle of the transfer window he had a decision to make: trust the process or start searching. Somewhere in his phone book is the number of Zinedine Zidane, who has already proved he can extract the maximum from a star-studded squad. There is also long-standing admiration for Jürgen Klopp – Pérez would love to lure the motivational guru back into big-time football and was even ready to offer him a degree of control over transfers. But Klopp is unlikely to be tempted; life away from stadiums and press conferences seems too comfortable.
Many observers focused on Pérez’s conversation with Alonso on the pitch after the final whistle in the Clásico. The president and the coach exchanged a few words that never reached the media. If Mundo Deportivo’s version is to be believed, that defeat was not initially meant to be Alonso’s last result as Madrid boss. But it was.
There are doubts, however, that a hypothetical Zidane or Klopp could teach centre-back Raúl Asensio to choose his position better on an unfamiliar right side – the channel from which Barça’s first goal arrived – or force the team to press with more intensity. Coaches do not injure or heal players, and they do not directly negotiate transfers, yet they are the ones who have to find the tactical “crutches” to cope.
Alonso, contrary to what many pundits predicted, actually handled that part well. Real are still in the race to win the biggest trophies, no matter how strong Barcelona look. In the “Royal Club”, everything is set up like a kingdom – there is a ruler, a cluster of vassals with varying degrees of satisfaction and a court full of intrigue and scandal. Alonso ultimately proved unable to master this environment. But he will not be out of work for long.
As for how the new man in charge, Álvaro Arbeloa, will handle this kind of job, that remains a mystery. The former Real defender has been working at the club since 2020, but only took on a truly serious challenge in May when he stepped up from youth sides to coach Castilla, the reserve team.
The good news for Arbeloa is that he gets a warm‑up act. On 14 January, his Madrid will face Albacete in the Copa del Rey – an ideal opportunity for a successful debut.
Published by Patrick Jane
13.01.2026