Xabi Alonso might have thought he knew the pressure of being Real Madrid boss from his playing days at the Bernabeu, but in the dugout, he is discovering first half just how precarious life is as head coach at the world’s biggest football club.
Little more than six months into the job and Alonso finds himself on the brink of being sacked, despite a win percentage that stands at 70.3%.
A nightmare November saw things start to fall apart for the highly regarded ex-Bayer Leverkusen boss. A run of two wins from five games, all away from home, started heaping the pressure on the former Spain midfielder, and though Los Blancos won handsomely at Athletic Club on December’s opening weekend, a 2-0 home defeat against Celta Vigo has seen the pressure ramp up once more.
Managing Real Madrid, after all, is as much managing egos off the field as it is getting it right tactically on it. Predecessor Carlo Ancelotti was a master of this; Alonso is still learning.
Whether he has enough time to put into practice what knowledge he is accumulating, though, is doubtful. Reports in the Spanish media suggest he will be sacked with a negative result against Manchester City in the Champions League.
Of course recent results put Alonso under pressure, but it is his frosty relationship with the squad that could see him dumped before Christmas.
Much of the focus is on his rift with Vinicius Junior, which seems fragile at best. The Brazil international’s strop in El Clasico caught the headlines, then the forward made a power play in the media with declarations that he will not sign a new contract while Alonso is still in charge.
It’s been a relationship that’s been deteriorating since the summer, when the coach was poised to drop the attacker from the FIFA Club World Cup semi-final against Real Madrid before a late injury to Rodrygo forced him to change his plans.
And other Real Madrid stars are unsettled, too. Federico Valverde, another €100 million plus superstar, has been unhappy at being deployed as a right-back and has been subject to transfer rumours. Ironically these link him to Liverpool, where Alonso is being touted as a potential candidate to replace Arne Slot.
The list of complaints the players have filed seems petty, but these are superstars used to being in control. When they are not, they make sure everyone knows about it.
Flying to away games the preceding day? Not for them. A talk from the manager each day before training? Boring.
Alonso’s biggest problem is perhaps that president Florentino Perez appears ready to back his Galacticos ahead of the manager. After all, it’s the man in the dugout who is most easily replaced.
Sometimes the easiest decisions are not the right ones, though. Look at the evolution of PSG after the departure of Kylian Mbappe. What Luis Enrique has done at Parc des Princes can be seen as a framework for other clubs to follow, yet Real Madrid still feel that they need their stars.
Alonso, therefore, finds his head on the chopping block and there is a sense that he will need his side to be flawless in the coming weeks if he is to remain as Real Madrid manager into 2026.
