Real Madrid have announced via an official club statement that Xabi Alonso has left the club by mutual agreement following Real's 3-2 Super Cup defeat to rivals Barcelona. Alonso had reportedly been under pressure, and despite turning it around recently, he has decided to leave the club with immediate effect.
Alonso had been feeling the heat since Madrid's drop in form in November and December, and the defeat to Barca seems to have been the last straw for the manager and the club, leading to his decision to leave.
Another big factor in his decision to leave is the reported rift between the manager and some players in the locker room. Players like Vinicius Junior, Fede Valverde, and others reportedly had issues with some of Alonso's methods from early on, which led to a rift that was ultimately too deep to fix.
However, despite problems between the manager and players in the dressing room, Alonso retained the support of three stars in the squad; unfortunately, it wasn't enough to sway the rest of the players into backing the manager at least until the end of the season.
Xabi Alonso had three Real Madrid stars fighting in his corner during short-lived reign
As being reported by The Touchline on X, Xabi Alonso had three stars fighting in his corner during his short lived reign in charge of Real Madrid, with those three players being Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo, and Thibaut Courtois. The trio publicly backed Alonso, with Bellingham showing his support for the manager just days before his departure.
Rodrygo also recently showed his support for the manager following his return to the starting lineup and improved form, and credited Alonso for believing in him. Courtois, one of the most senior players in the squad, was always an avid supporter of Alonso from the beginning, but even his voice was drowned out by others in the team.
From the day he was hired, Alonso's main goal was to bring about a culture change at Real Madrid from the dying days of the Carlo Ancelotti regime, but it's hard to change things when not everyone is buying into his ideas and doing their part to improve the team as a whole.
Alvaro Arbeloa has already been announced as the man to replace Xabi Alonso for now, but will the players really buy into his ideas if they didn't support Alonso's? Only time will tell, but Arbeloa definitely has one big job on his hands now.