When on Monday December 8th, after the defeat against Celta at the Bernabéu, this newspaper exclusively reported on the meeting that took place in the early hours at the stadium between Florentino Pérez and his board to assess the future of Xabi Alonso, the Real Madrid coach was already doomed. It was a foretold death, and only a miracle would have allowed him to finish the season. A month later, after losing in the Super Cup final, the Tolosa native ceased to be the coach of the white team yesterday. It was done "by mutual agreement" with the club and with Arbeloa, his friend and coach of Castilla, as his replacement. And it happened for several reasons.
"Nobody ever wants to leave Real Madrid," they admit from Valdebebas, denying his resignation. But Alonso's reality is that his time in Chamartín has been deteriorating until he himself accepted the end of his era. He did not resign, but he showed signs of helplessness and exhaustion in a situation where he saw no solution due to the club's refusal to sign players in winter.
He admitted this to José Ángel Sánchez, the club's general director, in the conversations they had upon returning yesterday from Arabia. The first conversation on the same plane, analyzing what had happened, the plan against Barça, physical preparation, the needs and possibilities of the squad, and solutions to everything. There, the executive, his great supporter, and the coach did not reach enough common ground for a future together.
The next conversation, a few hours later, was the final one, with Florentino assuming the responsibility for the decision. The president was tempted to dismiss him on the night of the defeat against Celta, but he held on, hoping for a reaction from the team, more in terms of sensations than results. Real Madrid won everything from City onwards until Barça, but the manner never convinced the noble area of the Bernabéu, with that "let him pee with his own" from Guardiola, close to the Tolosa native, which did not sit well in the Castellana.
Alonso regained the support of a dressing room that had been lost, but the accumulation of circumstances during these months weighed heavily against him and his spirits, at an all-time low in recent weeks due to the wear and tear of rumors and constant tension.
As reported by this newspaper, the cracks began in the Club World Cup. Xabi preferred to take on the role in July, with the new season, rather than dragging it through the course in the United States. He landed in Miami with his ideas and clashed with some stars, like Vinicius, who was supposed to be a substitute in the semifinal against PSG and only started due to Alexander-Arnold's injury.
That rift with the Brazilian grew larger until the famous anger in the Clásico. And if there is a player that Florentino holds dear, it is Vinicius. The board never understood Alonso's treatment of the Brazilian and defended the player, who stopped rotating after the also famous conversation in Athens between the coach and the team.
These clashes with Vinicius spread to other sectors of the dressing room due to the type of training sessions and methods of Xabi and his coaching staff, in whom the club did not fully trust. The videos, the day-to-day mechanics, and the scientific analysis of everything gradually dampened the spirits of the players, to whom, according to the club, creativity was being diminished.
Nevertheless, the dressing room rallied for Arabia, especially for the Clásico. They competed until the end, and although they lost, they returned to the capital with the idea that Xabi would remain their coach. That's why the official statement from Real Madrid left the squad "in shock," finding out through social media.
Some had come to terms with the idea that if Xabi Alonso were to leave, the chosen one would be Zidane before going with France, but ultimately it is Arbeloa, whom they know somewhat from the day-to-day at Valdebebas, who will step onto field 1 of the sports city hand in hand with Antonio Pintus, who will be on the field today. His name was the final straw for the Real Madrid management. Florentino, who signed him in 2021 as a star even before announcing Ancelotti, never saw it positively that he left the first team with Alonso's arrival and had always recommended bringing him back, despite the constant "no" from the Basque to his ideas.
In recent weeks, Xabi had made public his "collaboration" with the Italian, but he still remained distant from the bench as the plague of injuries and the poor form of many players angered the noble area. "There is time to physically and mentally reactivate the players," sources from Valdebebas assure. We will see.