Xabi Alonso Discovered Real Madrid Is the Impossible Job for All But Two People

With just 34 games under his belt, the Spaniard’s time at the Bernabéu has come to an abrupt end. But given that’s only the eighth shortest tenure of Florentino Pérez’s presidency, it should perhaps be no surprise at all.

Xabi Alonso’s time is already up. / Federico Titone/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

It is easy to comprehend why Xabi Alonso, relieved of his duties on Monday, was under so much pressure at Real Madrid.

Real have been crowned European champions 15 times, are the biggest club in the world, boast a magnificent, expanded stadium and have superstars like Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior in a squad valued at more than £1 billion ($1.3 billion).

No wonder their fans get frustrated when Real lose their tactical and emotional discipline, inexplicably have players sent off and lose to mid-table Celta Vigo like they did in December and fail to overcome rivals Barcelona for a fifth time in six meetings—this time with the Spanish Super Cup on the line.

Patience is not a word that exists in the Bernabéu. Real Madrid are a great football club and an even bigger soap opera, a sort of “Home and Olé.” Their fans are criticized at behaving in an entitled fashion, and there is undeniably an arrogance to many Madridistas. They would counter that they have a lot to be arrogant about. Look at the trophies in the museum.

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Listen to the confident rhetoric on the Calle de Marceliano Santa Maria which heaves with Real fans before games at the Bernabéu 50 yards away. The road is packed, impassable by car and difficult for any pedestrian. It’s a throng of thousands, some clutching cans of Mahou, others holding flares.

Fans wave replicas of the European Cup, swirling the pyro smoke. Ninety minutes before kickoff, they head to the top of the road, turn right and swell the numbers already gathering at the roundabout by the Bernabéu.

Luxury coaches carrying the squad swoop by, led by outriders, sirens flashing and police horses keeping the fans back. Gareth Bale, the flying Welshman who once graced Real’s wing, would sit by the window on the bus, watching the scenes, feeding on the adrenalin flowing from the fans. When you’re in among the Real crowd you sense the power of the support, the passion and the constant craving for success. Alonso’s job was to meet that demand.

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The Bernabéu Waits for No Man

Alonso struggled to manage some big personalities. / Javier SORIANO/AFP/Getty Images

He began the season confidently, being awarded Manager of the Month for August in La Liga, but the 44-year-old was quickly fighting for his job.

Real have historically had very high standards. When the team doesn’t live up to expectations first heightened by Alfredo Di Stéfano, Francisco Gento and Ferenc Puskás in the 1950s, fans show their disapproval. They wave their white hankies and, often, the manager tends not to last long after that.

The clock ticks loudly at the Bernabéu. Alonso deserved time but managers rarely get that at Real. He did superbly in Germany, coaching Bayer Leverkusen to the Bundesliga title and turning prospects like Florian Wirtz into £116 million players, yet he was quickly written off at Real.

It shows how brutal the situation is that Alonso is a well-loved former player. He represented Real on 192 occasions. He won the 2014 Champions League, although was suspended for the final against Atlético Madrid. None of this association with the club wins him extra time as coach. It’s deliver or depart.

Real have had 19 head coaches in the 21st century, including two stints apiece from Zinedine Zidane and Carlo Ancelotti. Those two hulking figures cast shadows that Alonso struggles to escape. In their most recent spells in charge, Zidane oversaw 114 games and Ancelotti 234. That hints at patience. Between Zidane’s two stretches, Julen Lopetegui lasted 14 games and Santiago Solari 32. Blink and they were gone. It’s a ferociously demanding job.

Alonso, a popular player during his time on the field at the Bernabéu, found himself under siege. The fans turned, the media turned and Madrid pundits and journalists were merciless when they sensed vulnerability. The Spaniard stood up to the heat the best he could but couldn’t keep the flames at bay.

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Real’s Problems Run Deeper Than Alonso

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s injury was one of many blows to Alonso. / Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images

There seems no understanding that the squad is imbalanced, that Alonso might not have chosen all the recent signings and that his options were impeded even further by injuries. Dean Huijsen, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Antonio Rüdiger, Dani Carvajal and Éder Militão all missing at some point. There was little sympathy. Fans used to higher standards expect better.

Everything about Alonso was scrutinized, especially the people skills required to control and inspire such an ego-filled dressing room.

Ancelotti achieved it through his quiet authority, a raised eyebrow here, a simple instruction there. Ancelotti’s revered reputation as coach and player ensured players responded to him. Having a stellar coach with a humble personality and great wit, players understood better the concept of sacrificing themselves for the cause. Ancelotti is the master at coaxing, as much as coaching.

Zidane’s name contributed greatly to his successful running of the Real dressing room. In the presence of greatness, players bowed down and lifted their work levels. Zidane and Ancelotti made players feel loved, their egos stroked. Those players demanding “medals on the table” from two such coaches would need a long table. Ancelotti has won the Champions League twice as a player and five times as a manager. Zidane won it once as a player and three times as a manager.

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Alonso Cut Loose Before He Could Show His Metal

Real have gone in a different direction. / Irina R. Hipolito/Europa Press/Getty Images

It’s sad that Alonso was not being given more of a chance. His career shows that he’s a fighter, a leader, who can deliver given time and support. Alonso demands responsibility. He was made Real Sociedad captain at 20 by John Toshack. He took responsibility with Steven Gerrard to get Liverpool back on track in the second half of the 2005 Champions League final against Ancelotti’s AC Milan.

Alonso was so committed to his craft that he practiced shooting from the halfway line in Liverpool training in case the opportunity arose on matchday; he scored from 70 yards against Newcastle United in 2006. The Spanish international took a brutal kung-fu kick in the ribs from the Netherlands’ Nigel de Jong in the 2010 World Cup final—and played on.

He’s a strong character, a good coach, but in a battle zone of a dressing room needed to get the players more onside. He does have man-management skills, drawing on his own experience as a player. The Mohamed Salah story from December stirred memories of another Liverpool player staying at home and not facing Inter Milan in San Siro. Alonso missed Liverpool’s 2008 trip to face Inter as he was with his wife, Nagore, who was giving birth to their first child, Jontxe.

Alonso’s very likeable, very human but was under extreme pressure. How Alonso would have loved to have controlled the dressing room and influence over recruitment that Pep Guardiola enjoys at Manchester City. How Alonso needed more of his Real players to have his team mindset.

Now, it’s over to Álvaro Arbeloa, the latest Castilla manager to be fast-tracked into the top job at Real. He too will be forced to prove his credentials and quickly, under relentless pressure from the get-go. Whether he can handle the heat better than Alonso is anybody’s guess.

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