Alonso must obey rules of Real Madrid for success

Miguel L. Pereira could be discovered on social media right here, and should you’re hungry for extra, Miguel has additionally written a e book delving into the heights and depths of Spanish soccer, and all it’s cultural and social layers. Discover out extra about it right here.

There’s no place you may really feel actually protected while you’re a Actual Madrid supervisor. It is without doubt one of the hardest jobs in world soccer, not simply because it’s a membership that calls for to win every little thing on a regular basis, however primarily as a result of it’s one which mistrusts soccer managers. Few have triumphed with their very own concepts in its lengthy, profitable historical past, and once they did, it got here at a value. Xabi Alonso is beginning to perceive what it’s all about, even when he’s, exactly, one of many only a few who couldn’t say they haven’t been warned prior to now.

Some golf equipment belong to gamers. Others belong to soccer managers. Actual Madrid is within the first class. You’ll be able to even say it nearly outlined it. It is a membership constructed by a boss who was, in his personal proper, a really profitable participant in his youth and who believed to understood the sport higher than anybody. And, after all, by one of many biggest gamers of all time, one who, even when he was a profitable supervisor in a while, at all times distrusted the position of the person within the dugout.

The Chamartin crowd grew upholding Alfredo di Stefano’s values of grit, character, character, successful mentality and aptitude, alongside Santiago Bernabeu’s sense of belonging and talent to adapt to circumstances, anticipating the longer term even. Soccer managers had been by no means cherished or admired as they had been in different latitudes. Take the metro east to the brand new Metropolitano, and you’ll simply perceive how Atletico Madrid grew to become a membership that has delivered its soul to 2 soccer managers – even when they had been additionally profitable former gamers for the aspect – in Luis Aragones and Diego Pablo Simeone. Barcelona, Actual Madrid’s biggest rivals, have been moulded to their fashionable model, the one many love and admire, by the Dutch genius Johan Cruyff. Not Cruyff the participant, as so many recall wrongly, however Cruyff the supervisor.

Till then, Barca had been a membership looking for an id however at all times trusting extra in international superstars, from Ladislao Kubala to Diego Armando Maradona, than in managers. Once they sacked Helenio Herrera, who had simply gained back-to-back leagues towards the mighty Actual Madrid within the midst of a run of five European Cup wins, they proved as a lot and paid the worth for it. Actual Madrid, quite the opposite, by no means as soon as put their coronary heart within the fingers of 1 man and received away with it.

Vanguard managers had been employed, right here and there, some pragmatists like Fabio Capello, others extra romantic, as Jorge Valdano at all times was, however the membership appeared extra snug within the arms of a fatherly determine, the identical factor Bernabeu and Di Stefano had been of their prime. Males who understood that gamers got here first, that they wanted to specific themselves freely to entertain the group and gather silverware. Their solely job was not getting of their approach and retaining a harmonious setting within the dressing room.

After all, they weren’t tactically inept; quite the opposite. Luis Molowny or Vicente del Bosque – two of the extra charismatic fatherly figures within the historical past of Spanish soccer – had been tactically way more superior than they’ve been labelled, and even Miguel Munoz, most likely a extra restricted supervisor, knew a factor or two concerning the recreation. The identical could possibly be mentioned of each Zinedine Zidane and Carlo Ancelotti, the managers who outlined the second golden period of Actual Madrid. They had been tactically sound, nice at man administration, and had sturdy personalities. But they knew their place within the hierarchy and, above all, had been beloved by the gamers who loved their firm, teachings, and achievements.

Once they had been briefly changed by the likes of Rafael Benitez, Julen Lopetegui or Santiago Solari, who had been dying to depart their private imprint on the membership, morale collapsed and so did the staff. Alonso may also keep in mind the Jose Mourinho years, the one time maybe in historical past the place the supervisor was the media star of the aspect. That didn’t finish properly both; Mourinho ceased to be ‘the particular one’ when he determined to confront the particular ones within the dressing room. They had been an excessive amount of, even for him.

Ask round who remembers the names of the Actual Madrid managers, who gained the membership’s first six European Cups? Few will provide you with the solutions. Or the three managers who coached the well-known Quinta del Buitre of their superb 5 consecutive league title wins. Even most fashionable Madridistas will come across that one. However they know the gamers’ names, the kits and can recall a few outcomes as properly.

Alonso is a soccer fanatic and has an inside information of every little thing associated to the membership, so none of that is information to him. Aside from the ego that each soccer participant and supervisor has, there will need to have been stable causes to spurn presents from Liverpool and Bayern Munich. Maybe a promise from the board that he would get full help in how he performed issues within the dressing room. Or that the switch market would deal with key positions in his tactical scheme, one synonymous with him his Actual Sociedad B days.

Alonso🗣️

“Mbappe is essential. After all, scoring is so vital however his character, his management, his weight within the dressing room.”

“I used to be a lot calmer than you would possibly count on. I am not novice at this. I do know that the trail is lengthy and never straightforward.”

Credit score: UEFA👇Full story pic.twitter.com/nrbJk7DKjB

— Soccer España (@footballespana_) November 27, 2025

Nonetheless, December has arrived, and with it the primary requires the sacking of a supervisor who was main the league 4 days prior, had gained the primary Clasico performed within the marketing campaign and was comfortably within the Champions League high eight. That’s Actual Madrid for you. That aspect, his aspect hasn’t performed properly all season; there have been key positions on the pitch that ought to have been addressed within the switch market, and the squad suffered from vital accidents stopping their finest XI from enjoying frequently.

All that’s true. However everybody who noticed his first weeks on the job, in the course of the Membership World Cup, may see his private imprint on the aspect, regardless of having performed only some coaching classes. That’s all however gone now. Alonso’s aspect grows more and more depending on Kylian Mbappe’s targets – most coming from the spot, and Thibaut Courtois’ capacity to cease nearly every little thing that comes his approach. That’s to say, little has modified from the Ancelotti days. The issue is, few issues have modified as a result of the dressing room stays the identical, and that’s the place the issues of the membership have at all times been. Now, earlier than and sooner or later.

Few dressing rooms are so able to sacking managers as Actual Madrid’s, all the way in which again to the day when Bernabeu mentioned goodbye to Manuel Fleitas Solich as a result of the gamers had been uninterested in his tactical reshuffles. Since then, sensible managers have suffered the identical destiny. When Florentino Perez mentioned his goodbyes in 2006, complaining he had given an excessive amount of energy to his Galacticos, he was simply mimicking what the membership had at all times carried out with earlier generations and what’s taking place as soon as once more with the likes of Vinicius Junior or Jude Bellingham.

Xabi Alonso seems to have improved relations together with his Actual Madrid stars, however what did he hand over in the course of the negotiations? Absolutely story beneath👇 pic.twitter.com/eHSVOxqkgU

— Soccer España (@footballespana_) November 30, 2025

This was illustrated by Alonso restoring the English worldwide to the beginning XI on the afternoon they had been hammered by Atletico Madrid, and helps to clarify why the supervisor feels the necessity to have some key names by his aspect. Even when at occasions, it doesn’t make any sense when you consider how the staff was anticipated to carry out below him. There’s not one of the aggression, urgent, fast transitions and talent to maneuver the ball that we noticed at Leverkusen. Actual Madrid are sluggish in defence, gradual and predictable in possession and overly depending on one man.

Gonzalo Garcia, the younger, promising striker who made a reputation for himself in the course of the Membership World Cup, doesn’t get any minutes, even when the plan appears to be bomb balls into the field. His aerial capacity ought to be key, however as he comes final within the rank of names obtainable for the central attacking place, he can not play the position Joselu Mato carried out below Ancelotti. The necessity to thrust the promising new signing Mastantuono on the beginning XI when he nonetheless is clearly a uncooked for the elite recreation, as a substitute of trusting in academy graduates or decrease key gamers, additionally  displays the necessity to discover a stability between his philosophy and the facility struggles behind closed doorways.

Then, there’s Vinicius. Few gamers in world soccer could be as poisonous because the Brazilian. A really proficient winger, a person who already carried out wonders for the membership, Vinicius has been a shadow of himself since he misplaced the Ballon d’Or to Rodri towards all the chances. He has allowed the persona he created for his publicity stunts, a type of Mahatma Gandhi of soccer, that few folks really consider is real, to supplant his soccer id. His claims are sometimes truthful, and require instant motion from the soccer authorities, but it surely’s extra distraction than gas for Vinicius. The truth that Perez most well-liked to signal Mbappe to be the star man of his venture as a substitute of reinforcing his position after a superb 2023/24 marketing campaign might need one thing to do with it too.

Finally, Alonso can’t discover a place for himself in his tactical scheme, but in addition doesn’t have the power to win an influence wrestle with a world star who shall be out of his contract on the finish of subsequent season. Even Rodrygo Goes, a a lot smaller determine throughout the dressing room, has managed to remain after a tense summer season market stuffed with hypothesis, receiving extra minutes than many anticipated. Little of it has a lot to do with soccer, however with group dynamics. And that’s the reason, within the historical past of Actual Madrid, having the ability to handle a gaggle of big egos has at all times proved extra sensible than hiring somebody who conceives of the sport with all of the gamers adhering obediently one man’s specific concept.

Alonso’s job might not be on the hook, and it is senseless that there’s really a dialogue about it so early within the season, however as soon as once more, Actual Madrid is proving to be a membership the place soccer managers should not cherished or admired. They’re a necessity. In the event that they dream of imposing themselves on the membership or the gamers, as Invoice Shankly, Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, or Cruyff did, they’re in for an enormous shock. Solely time will inform what’s going to occur to the promising Basque supervisor, however he is aware of completely properly the place he has landed, and don’t count on Alonso to wave his private white flag simply but.