It’s not old news that Xabi Alonso is no longer the manager of Real Madrid, having tendered his resignation less than 24 hours after the 3:2 Spanish Super Cup final defeat at the hands of the Blaugrana.
Alonso was appointed as head coach of Los Blancos prior to the Club World Cup in June 2025, a season after leading Bayer Leverkusen to an invincible domestic season, which saw them claim the Bundesliga and the DFB Pokal while also reaching the finals of the UEFA Europa League.
Xabi Alonso joined Madrid and led Madrid to the semi-final of the Club World Cup in July, defeating teams like Juventus and Dortmund in the process.
Despite Xabi Alonso being the Real Madrid manager with the highest win rate since 2015 and the manager since Pellegrini to take charge of 30+ matches without winning a trophy.
What are some of the factors that pushed Alonso to tender his resignation as the manager of Real Madrid?
Unwillingness to comply with his philosophy
The players showed no interest in complying with Xabi’s philosophy and tactics at the club. Alonso tried to impose his tactics of high-pressing and possession-based football from his Leverkusen days, but the player profile and ego played a huge role in disrupting this possibility.
For instance, Alonso is abandoning the five-at-the-back system. Aside from injuries, several players were unhappy with the system in place.
There were also several reports claiming that players trained with Levity often arrived late, did little, and wanted to leave the training sessions on time. Marca also claimed that, from the player’s perspective, the training sessions were highly demanding and that they were not happy receiving a lot of information.
Marca also claimed that during a training session in early November, he was visibly annoyed and shouted at the players, “I didn’t know I was coming to coach babies.”
This frustration continued to grow, creating a rift between the coach and the players, and from then on, it was only a matter of time before Alonso would leave his position as manager.
Player Power Dynamics
Player dynamics were also a major factor in Xabi’s leaving. A club like Real Madrid is known for its stardom and big-name players. These are players who would want things to go their way.
A good example of this is the incident with Vinicius Junior, who Alonso subbed off on a number of occasions due to poor performances. This eventually led to an outburst in a 2:1 El Clásico win over Barcelona on 28th October. He reacted badly and furiously after being subbed off, yet he wasn’t fined nor punished for this incident. However, he did issue an apology for his behaviour, which was not directed towards the manager.
Vini wanted to leave, and Perez wanted Vini to sign the contract and keep him happy at the club. This was the turning point when Alonso started to feel unsupported by the club, and cracks in the dressing room began to show.
The player’s ego
Managing the player’s ego at a club like Real Madrid can be a lot of work and has proven almost impossible.
Real Madrid is a club that works hand in hand with world-class man management. It is always man management first, and tactical ideas and philosophy can come in second, and it’s been like that for years.
The club has had coaches like Mourinho and Ancelotti succeed, and it’s no coincidence that they are known more for their man management than their tactical ideas and philosophy
Then there are also tactical managers like Juan Lopetegui, Rafa Benitez and the latest, Xabi Alonso, who could not crack it at Real Madrid.
On paper, it was a match made in heaven, but in reality, these concerns were always there; he’s a young and gifted tactical coach, and making that jump so early in his career could always prove to be fatal, especially when managing such egos in the dressing room.
Pressure from the board
Despite being second in the league, 4 points behind, in the Spanish Super Cup final, and still in Champions League and Copa del Rey contention. Xabi faced pressure from the Club President, Florentino Perez, and the Madrid board, fans and media to improve the form and turn things around.
This was also due to the result-wise coming out second best in several key games, like Man City, Liverpool, Atletico, and, most recently, the Spanish Super Cup final against Barcelona.
The club was never really going to pitch into Xabi’s ideas and philosophy. With his request for a midfielder turned down, the club also informed Xabi Alonso that there would be no winter transfer signings made for him.
Who is the new manager, Arbeloa?
In a surprising turn of events, Alvaro Arbeloa has been appointed as the head coach of Los Blancos, according to Fabrizio Romano. Álvaro’s name had been mentioned several times, even while Xabi was still the manager of Real Madrid.
Álvaro Arbeloa is a former Real Madrid player who played as a right-back and could occasionally be used on the left-hand side.
Arbeloa started his career at Real Madrid Castilla in 2003 and made his debut for the club in 2004.
After which he was sold to Deportivo in July 2006, then to Liverpool in January 2007, and was part of the Liverpool squad that reached the 2007 Champions League final, where they fell short at the hands of Milan.
Arbeloa later rejoined Madrid in July 2009 and went on to spend 7 years at the club, during which he won 2 Champions League titles, was part of the 100-point La Liga champion in 2012, won 2 Copa del Rey in 2011 and 2014, and won one Spanish Super Cup in 2012, 2 Euros in 2008 and 2012, and a World Cup for Spain in 2010.
Arbeloa left Madrid on a free transfer, joining West Ham in 2016, and retired in July 2017 after a one-year stint with the club.
Since then, Arbeloa has managed Madrid’s U19 teams from 2005 to 2022, was promoted to U19 coach in July 2025, and was named permanent manager in January 2026.
What’s next for Real?
Several managers, like Jurgen Klopp and Enzo Maresca, are currently linked to the Real Madrid job, especially if things don’t improve under the leadership of Arbeloa.
However, according to multiple reports, Jurgen Klopp is seen as the dream managerial choice for club president Florentino Perez on the condition that Klopp returns to full-time coaching after he (Klopp) currently operates as Global Head of Soccer for Red Bull.
However, several outlets, including ESPN, have stated that Klopp has no interest in the Real Madrid job at the moment.
Maresca is another likely candidate and an admirer of the job; however, he seems more like Xabi in terms of manager profiling and being more tactical.
Conclusion…
It’s rare to see a club like Real Madrid have a managerial change mid-season; the last time this occurred was 8 years ago, when Juan Lopetegui was fired in 2018.
It seems this is bigger than it is, especially with factors like player power dynamics being a huge reason the club looks like a shell of itself and a major reason the early Galácticos failed early on.
If the mentality and the approach to certain things (like training) don’t change, this club can find itself in a world of problems.
It’s really not a surprise that the three-peat wasn’t with a Galáctico team; you need a balanced squad in terms of dynamics and mentality to replicate feats like this.
A recent example is PSG in 2022 and 2023; they assembled a Galactico team with a stacked attack and allowed Kylian Mbappe to run the show. The result was two back-to-back rounds of 16 eliminations from the Champions League. Both Poch and Galtier really had no power in the dressing room and were not backed by the board.
Player power dynamics have always been a huge problem in the sport and will continue to be, especially if not addressed appropriately.