Real Madrid vs Man City: Xabi Alonso's Red Line

The clash between Real Madrid and Man City is seen as the limit for Xabi Alonso, who could be sacked if he loses.

Pressure on Alonso

In the defeat against Celta Vigo, of the 15 players Xabi Alonso used, 13 were present from the previous season under Carlo Ancelotti – with the exception of Alvaro Carreras and Gonzalo Garcia (who came on in the 75th minute).

Real Madrid endured a year and a half in a downward spiral, where all the old ailments persistently recurred.

Alonso is facing a lot of pressure. Photo: EFE

It's a picture of a team with a stagnant style of play, an inability to impose itself in the midfield, sinking against opponents with low defensive lines, a mismatched or almost non-existent pressing system, and low intensity.

Real Madrid transitioned from Carletto's family-like protection to Alonso's organization and discipline, but then a new problem emerged: a lack of rapport between some of the stars and the Baques coach.

Alonso's reputation in the dressing room has been severely damaged, especially since the club showed lenience toward Vinicius's public defiance of the manager during El Clasico.

The defeat against Celta Vigo has put the team and Alonso in a precarious situation, before facing Pep Guardiola's Man City (3 AM on December 11th).

Real Madrid are without Militao, Camavinga, Trent Alexander-Arnold , Carvajal, Mendy, and Alaba. Worse still, Kylian Mbappe has a broken finger.

The club admitted that closed-door meetings between Florentino Perez and his inner circle lasted through Sunday evening to analyze a deeply worrying picture.

The disappointing draw against Elche two weeks ago, followed by slip-ups at Liverpool and Rayo Vallecano, forced the board to intervene when the situation became too out of control.

Valdebebas issued a warning message to the players – “they need to dispel any doubts about their commitment this season, otherwise they will be the next to be singled out.”

The leadership also demanded that Xabi rebuild his relationship with the team, where the dissatisfaction of some key players (Vinicius and Valverde) was all too clear; and others, like Bellingham, viewed him with reservations.

Before the Olympiacos match, Alonso declared that the team had had "very positive and productive hours" in the dressing room. In subsequent matches, Xabi was seen more relaxed in press conferences, proactively making friendly gestures towards Vinicius.

With Vinicius, substitutions were only made when the game was already decided; Bellingham was always kept on the field; Valverde received endless praise; and Mbappe's goals were untouchable.

However, this didn't help much when negative results kept appearing.

Lack of solutions

Alonso's six months at Valdebebas was also a history of concessions. He wanted to take over Real Madrid after the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, but wasn't given the choice of timing.

He demanded reinforcements in midfield, but received the exact same answer Ancelotti had received: they had to make do with what they had.

Xabi intended to be firm on professional matters without considering the star's name, but the club's reaction to Vini's rebellion shows that he doesn't have complete control.

At the office, they were unhappy from the very first times Vini was benched.

The turning point of the season was still the Vinicius incident in El Clásico: from being 5 points ahead, they were now 4 points behind Barcelona. Before that day, "Los Blancos" had won 12 out of their first 13 matches. After that, they only won 3 out of 8.

Real Madrid are dependent on Mbappe's goals. Diario AS

As Ancelotti has complained countless times this past season, neither Alonso nor the players deny what everyone can see: the team often lacks energy.

After the 3-0 victory against Bilbao, the only win in the last 5 La Liga rounds, Valverde commented: "It's always good to see Mbappe and Vini involved in defense."

That doesn't always happen. In 5 Champions League matches, according to UEFA statistics, Real Madrid have consistently run less than their opponents, whether it's Kairath or Liverpool.

Arda Guler's brilliant early-season gamble is now fading (substituted in Girona, against Celta, and a bench player at Bilbao); he is overly reliant on Mbappe's goals.

This season, Mbappe has gone six games without scoring, and Real Madrid have only won two of those (against Mallorca and Juventus).

They lost to Liverpool and Celta, and drew with Rayo and Elche. Vinicius has gone 11 games without scoring and has only one assist in his last 9 La Liga matches.

Alonso is under immense pressure. In Madrid, people are starting to mention names like Zidane, Solari, Arbeloa, and Klopp .

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/real-madrid-dau-man-city-xabi-alonso-nguy-co-bi-sa-thai-2471200.html