Real Madrid have announced via an official club statement, that Xabi Alonso has left the club by mutual agreement with immediate effect. This comes following a 3-2 Spanish Super Cup loss to Barcelona, and has left many shocked that Alonso's time at the club has come to an end so soon.
When he was first announced as Madrid manager, fans were ecstatic about what Alonso would bring to the club following his impressive time at Bayer Leverkusen. It seemed a new era was underway at Los Blancos following the somewhat disappointing end to Carlo Ancelotti's reign.
And in the beginning, it seemed the Alonso era was exactly what the fans wanted, something new and fresh, something Madrid desperately needed. However, cracks quickly began to appear, revealing issues we had seen before.
Many expected the new manager to address all the problems of the old regime, but there is one in particular that needs to be addressed from higher up in the club, but Florentino Perez seems to not want to address it.
Florentino Perez won't address the trend Real Madrid fans hoped wouldn't return
One of the biggest issues fans have pointed out with Real Madrid over the years is the players' power and say within the team, which dramatically affects the club's overall structure. The La Liga club is not usually open to cultural change, which is exactly what Xabi Alonso's plan was from the day he was hired.
The players seem to very much have an "our way or the highway" type of mindset and that unfortunately caused the rift between Alonso and his men, resulting in his departure from the club.
We saw Vinicius Jr lash out at the manager on a number of occasions under Alonso, directly undermining the manager's authority, and when that happens at a club, there is almost no coming back. We saw it with Kylian Mbappe following Real's Super Cup final loss, when he urged the players not to give Barcelona a guard of honor, which went directly against the manager's request, and the players listened to Mbappe instead of Alonso, which seemed to be the last straw for the Spaniard.
I have never seen a coach’s authority be undermined like this. Xabi Alonso tells the Madrid players to form a guard of honor but Mbappe calls him back and he obliges like a puppet.
— TK (@TeaKupps) January 12, 2026
No wonder Xabi can’t succeed at Madrid pic.twitter.com/5fAThNYevn
Real Madrid has always been a team full of the biggest superstars in the world and with that comes big egos that have to be held in check for the betterment of the team as a whole, and that is the biggest issue within the current squad. This issue needs to be addressed, but if the players didn't want to listen to or respect Alonso's authority as manager, then who will the players listen to? Only time will tell.