Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid sacking: The full inside story, from Perez’s power to Vinicius Jr’s outburst

It was a bolt from the blue.

Xabi Alonso’s position as Real Madrid head coach had been in danger for some time, but the brutal manner of his sacking on Monday evening still shocked.

Almost nobody knew it was coming. Players and staff were not told to expect the club’s announcement — nor were the communications team. One figure involved every day at Madrid’s training ground found out when reading the news on his phone in the supermarket.

Alonso’s time at the Bernabeu has been incredibly short. The former Madrid, Liverpool and Spain midfielder was only hired in May, but by December there was real pressure on him — before a series of victories seemed to buy him some breathing space.

Sunday’s 3-2 defeat by Barcelona in the Supercopa de Espana final followed five wins in a row, including a 5-1 success against Real Betis in La Liga the previous weekend. After the game in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Alonso and his players went to collect their runners-up medals. The image of Alonso and club president Florentino Perez embracing briefly on the podium now seems loaded with drama.

Rarely do the two men coincide in public. But Perez, who turns 79 in March, is the ultimate decision maker at Real Madrid. He holds all the power. What happened next showed how little Alonso really had.

Xabi Alonso and Florentino Perez, the day before the head coach was fired (Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

With the Barcelona players about to go up to collect their trophy on the pitch, Alonso beckoned his Madrid players over to form a guard of honour — as Hansi Flick’s side had just done for them.

Alonso waved his arm and turned away, apparently convinced the players would follow his instruction. Nobody did. Kylian Mbappe, a short distance away, waved everyone in the opposite direction. The body language from Alonso as he realised what was happening, and became resigned to it, spoke volumes.

🚨 A video from last night shows tensions between Xabi Alonso and his squad following the Spanish Super Cup loss. Mbappé declined a guard of honour for Barcelona, with teammates following his lead.

According to reports, Xabi Alonso believed he no longer had control of the squad.… pic.twitter.com/Yj0JE9CvnL

— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) January 13, 2026

He has had real authority problems for some time. The new and modern methods he and his coaching staff brought in were not welcomed by some of Madrid’s senior players. They asked for more pressing, more tactical work and more discipline since the first days of his time in charge. He had been told by the club that was what they wanted, too; a break from the final days of Carlo Ancelotti’s second spell.

Tensions grew, ironically reaching a high point in late October and early November, when the team had won 13 of their first 14 matches of the season, including a victory against Barca at the Bernabeu that put them five points clear at the top of La Liga.

After defeat in the latest Clasico on Sunday, Madrid flew back from Saudi Arabia — the deal to play Supercopa games there was signed in 2019. On Monday morning, Alonso was at home.

The 44-year-old was not expecting to be sacked. Madrid had pushed Barca close and probably should have equalised late in the game, Alvaro Carreras and Raul Asencio missing two good chances from close range.

The team was not due to train until the following day, and Alonso and his staff were busy analysing the Barca defeat. In messages with The Athletic that morning, they had expressed optimism about the way forward.

Suddenly, all that went up in smoke.

Alonso was told to come to the training ground. There, the coach was informed he was being removed from his position, in a meeting with Jose Angel Sanchez, Madrid’s general director. Alonso told him in no uncertain terms that he thought the decision was wrong and unfair — and blamed his dismissal on the much-discussed culture of Galactico power at the Bernabeu.

For many outside observers, the club’s decision-making is mystifying: bringing in an elite and highly respected management team, asking them to make major changes, and sacking them just eight months later.

Xabi Alonso with assistants Sebas Parrilla and Alberto Encinas in July (Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)

In messages with The Athletic on Tuesday morning, a source close to Alonso said the situation “didn’t turn out as we would have liked, because this is Madrid and Florentino is Florentino”.

Here, The Athletic’s Real Madrid correspondents Mario Cortegana and Guillermo Rai tell the full inside story behind Alonso’s sacking, including:

• How Vinicius Junior’s dramatic October outburst was an instrumental turning point
• The split among Madrid’s players — who supported Alonso and who did not
• How Alonso’s close friend and ex-Madrid, Liverpool and Spain team-mate Alvaro Arbeloa came to replace him, and what that means for their relationship now
• Tensions over transfer policy, player power and politics at one of the most intriguing institutions in world sport
• Why what Real Madrid described as “mutual agreement” was most definitely a sacking
• How the decision to do so reflects Perez’s ultimate power

The information contained in this article reflects multiple conversations with various sources — among Madrid’s leadership, players, those close to Alonso and his coaching staff and sources at the training ground. All of them spoke anonymously to protect relationships.

At the end of October, Alonso and Madrid looked to be riding high. After beating Barcelona in El Clasico on October 26, they seemed to be enjoying their best moment of the season.

Madrid lost four times to Barca last term, so the 2-1 home victory was richly savoured. But all that glitters is not gold.

In the 72nd minute of the game, with Madrid already leading by that scoreline, Vinicius Jr was substituted. The Brazil forward reacted angrily. As he left the pitch and went straight down the tunnel, he shouted “Always me! I’m leaving the team, it’s better if I leave, I’m leaving” in images captured by broadcaster DAZN.

It was a hugely dramatic moment — and in truth it was just the tip of the iceberg. At that point, The Athletic was already aware of growing tensions among several senior Madrid players over Alonso’s methods and ideas.

When Alonso was hired as Ancelotti’s replacement in May, he arrived with the Madrid hierarchy’s blessing to impose more discipline. He inherited a dressing room accustomed to things that he did not believe were best for a team. Sources close to Alonso’s staff said “many bad habits” had taken hold.

The new coaching staff wanted more intensity in training and in matches. More pressing, more tactical instruction and analysis. They asked for better punctuality and more privacy around the group, restricting access to training sessions and the matchday dressing room in order to shield the team and prevent leaks to the media.

By October, this had led to a significant feeling of discontent behind the scenes. Sources said players were upset to find they now had little freedom to express their qualities on the pitch, contrasting Alonso’s more demanding and rigid approach with how things were under Ancelotti.

Madrid’s home win against Barcelona was on a Sunday. On the following Wednesday (October 29), The Athletic published a substantial report into this situation. Among the players unconvinced by Alonso’s footballing ideas and personal approach were Vinicius Jr, Jude Bellingham and Federico Valverde.

Vinicius Junior storms past Xabi Alonso and off the Bernabeu pitch in El Clasico (Alberto Gardin/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Others such as Kylian Mbappe, Aurelien Tchouameni, Arda Guler, Dani Ceballos and Raul Asencio believed in the coach. But Vinicius Jr was at the centre of the situation — as well as the fallout, which lasted for months.

In the days following his Clasico tantrum, the 25-year-old met with Madrid president Perez. He apologised for his behaviour during the match. He also explained that he felt extending his contract was not in his best interest while his relationship with Alonso remained strained, with his deal due to run until June 2027. Talks on a renewal have not progressed since.

That same day, Vinicius Jr also apologised at Madrid’s training ground, with team-mates, Alonso and the coaching staff present. But it came as a surprise, to figures at various levels at Madrid, that he did not mention Alonso by name in his social media message on the subject.

Sources close to Vinicus Jr confirmed leaving him out of the apology was a deliberate move. After Alonso’s sacking, several Madrid players posted messages of solidarity on social media. As of Tuesday evening, Vinicius Jr had not done so. Bellingham was among those who did, and in a press conference a month ago he had denied any tensions between Alonso and the players.

Madrid decided not to fine Vinicius Jr for his outburst. According to multiple sources, that is the point at which Alonso began to definitively lose the dressing room.

On November 1, Madrid beat Valencia 4-0 at home in La Liga. It was their 13th victory from 14 games in all competitions. By the end of that weekend, they were five points clear of defending champions Barcelona at the top of the table.

Things quickly deteriorated, on and off the pitch.

Real Madrid were beaten 1-0 by Liverpool in the Champions League (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Over the next seven matches, Alonso’s side won just twice. They were beaten by Liverpool in the Champions League and Celta Vigo in La Liga. They drew at Rayo Vallecano, Elche and Girona. Victories came at Olympiacos and Athletic Club — but both had a negative role to play.

Around the time of the Olympiacos game on November 26, moves were made to try and bring the group closer together. This involved Alonso making some concessions, including a reduction in the amount of video analysis the team was asked to follow.

After a chaotic 4-3 victory in Athens, a first win in four games, players such as Mbappe and Eduardo Camavinga publicly defended the coach. Valverde did the same on social media, despite his limited connection with Alonso.

Some sources at Madrid tried to promote the narrative that these internal meetings had been pivotal and had dramatically improved morale. Others downplayed their importance and continued to express concerns about the mood among the group.

Another key moment was the match against Athletic on Wednesday, December 3.

Some players expressed their dissatisfaction with the trip to Bilbao taking place the day before the match, rather than on the day itself. Alonso mediated by promising two days off in the event of a victory. Madrid won 3-0 at San Mames, putting in a highly convincing performance.

But a shambolic 2-0 home defeat against Celta followed on the Sunday. The Bernabeu booed the team loudly, something that has rarely happened. The decision to give the players time off in the build-up was criticised — both inside and outside the club.

In the eyes of Madrid’s leadership, the situation was now extremely worrying. In a month and a half, they had gone from having a five-point lead over Barcelona to trailing by a four-point deficit.

The board held discussions on Alonso’s future. Arbeloa emerged as the leading potential replacement. In May, he had been promoted from managing Madrid’s under-19s to their reserve side in Spain’s third tier, Real Madrid Castilla. Both he, Alonso and his staff were aware of the landscape.

Another name widely mentioned was Zinedine Zidane.

Madrid sources with close connections to the club’s decision makers suggested the Frenchman’s candidacy was being considered, but more as a desired scenario. They pointed to the special relationship between him and Perez, who would have made any approach discreetly and privately — without confirming any contact was made.

Sources close to the 53-year-old, who led Madrid to three consecutive Champions League titles from 2016-2018, spoke of his desire to one day manage France.

Alvaro Arbeloa (far right) and Xabi Alonso (second from right) with Jose Callejon (second left) and Juanmi Callejon (left) in June 2015 (Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)

Madrid’s next match after the Celta fiasco was against Manchester City. Seven players were out injured, with Mbappe only fit enough for the bench (although he did not come on). This situation brought back the much-discussed issue of last year’s fitness problems. At the time, there were internal tensions between Ancelotti and his staff and the physical trainer Antonio Pintus, a figure favoured by Perez.

Pintus was sidelined under Alonso, relegated from his daily involvement on the training pitch to a new position as ‘performance director’, a role Perez created for him. Recent weeks have seen veteran doctor Niko Mihic return to a prominent role overseeing all medical matters — he is another Perez favourite.

There has been a great deal of tension and political manoeuvring around Madrid’s recent spate of injuries. The same is true of squad planning and recruitment.

When Alonso said in a recent press conference that Madrid had to “keep an eye on the market”, a senior Madrid source told The Athletic there were no plans to bring anyone in and criticised the manager for not making more of the squad he had.

Alonso and his staff were given a greater say than Ancelotti in signings last summer, but they wanted further reinforcements — beyond the €180million (£156m; $210m) spent on Carreras, Dean Huijsen, Franco Mastantuono and Trent Alexander-Arnold, who has been injured for most of this season.

They particularly desired a tempo-dictating midfielder, somebody more capable of linking play between attack and defence — as Toni Kroos and Luka Modric once did.

Madrid’s record revenues are the largest ever seen in world football. The Athletic’s recent in-depth financial analysis showed they have spent €786million on transfers over the past decade — less than the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ and Paris Saint-Germain, with Newcastle United not far behind. They have also borrowed €1.17billion to fund the renovation of the Santiago Bernabeu.

Perhaps the largest, almost certainly most commented-on, problem Alonso has had to deal with is the nature of managing Madrid’s Galacticos.

By December, Alonso’s struggles to get the team playing how he wanted had reached a head. One source involved in day-to-day work last season had sympathy for him.

“The problem is not Xabi,” they said. “Mbappe, Vinicius Jr and Bellingham are incompatible; you can’t have a balanced team with those three.”

Fans also seemed to have a degree of sympathy. The Bernabeu crowd appeared to be implicitly supporting the coach when Vinicius Jr and other underperforming players were whistled by fans during recent victories against Sevilla and Real Betis either side of the winter break.

That person quoted above did not even mention Rodrygo, another attacking star Alonso had to try and fit in, and in fact the one that perhaps improved most over the course of the past few months.

On Monday, a source close to Alonso coach pointed out the extreme difficulty of “coaching players with such big egos”. A second such source said Madrid did not have “a team interested in training”.

“It’s crystal clear that it’s not a coaching problem,” one player told The Athletic in December.

Xabi Alonso took up the Real Madrid job after leaving Bayer Leverkusen (Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

Against Alaves on December 14, in what was a must-win game, Alonso picked Mbappe, Vinicius Jr, Bellingham and Rodrygo as starters for the first time — apparently abandoning the system he had been trying to impose, and probably pleasing those senior club figures who had been clamouring for such a move.

Three days later, another hugely revealing moment helped illustrate the atmosphere between players and the coaching staff. In a Copa del Rey match at third-tier Talavera de la Reina, Madrid were suffering more than anyone expected, and thanks to a dramatic late save from Andriy Lunin they went through with a 3-2 win. After Talavera brought themselves back into things, Madrid’s substitutes were seen laughing on the bench.

😬 Las risas de Vinicius y Endrick en el banquillo… mientras el Madrid sufría contra el Talavera

🎥 Un gesto que no pasó desapercibido pic.twitter.com/lInalJgGWf

— MARCA (@marca) December 19, 2025

When the final whistle came, Alonso looked exhausted. He stayed seated in the dugout for a few seconds and appeared to say to himself: “Ay, la hostia”. Bloody hell.

The board’s position at this point was to try and give Alonso as much time as results would allow. For them, that time was up after Sunday’s Clasico defeat.

There had already been concerns about the team’s ability to compete in big games after the 4-0 loss to PSG in the Club World Cup semi-finals in July, and September’s 5-2 thrashing across the city against Atletico Madrid.

A senior source said they didn’t see anything “extraordinary” in the decision to fire Alonso as, in their view, the team had to be performing better, and the head coach was always the easiest figure to change.

On Monday morning, Arbeloa led Real Madrid’s reserves in training, following a 4-1 defeat at Arenas Club de Getxo on Saturday. On Tuesday, he took over the senior team, aided by Pintus on the training pitch.

Aged 42, Arbeloa is seen internally as a trustworthy and competent coach who deserves to be given the chance to manage in the elite. Crucially, he has also impressed Madrid’s leadership with his loyalty to the club over the years, and is seen as a personality who is particularly liked by Perez.

Alonso and Arbeloa have known each other for years and various sources describe them as very good friends, while their families have also become close. On Tuesday, Arbeloa said he was told Alonso and the club “had parted ways by mutual agreement, minutes before the official statement was released”.

He said Alonso “wished me the best, just as I would have done if the situation were reversed”, adding: “Our friendship is above many things”.

Madrid did indeed announce Alonso’s exit was a mutual decision — a version of events contested by sources close to the manager and the coaching team, as well as by other club figures consulted since Monday.

Now, a new era begins. Goodbye Alonso, hello Arbeloa.