Khaberni - Press reports revealed that Xabi Alonso's time within the halls of Real Madrid was marked by many complications, as Florentino Perez, the club president, was opposed to the idea of appointing him, and his removal came due to accumulating doubts and tensions with the team's stars.
Alonso was dismissed from coaching Real Madrid after the loss in Jeddah on Sunday against rival Barcelona with a score of 3-2 in the final of the Spanish Super Cup, and although he spoke about the need to "move forward" and considered the Super Cup the least important of the tournaments, he found himself outside the project less than 24 hours after the loss.
According to the network "ESPN", although the Real Madrid statement described the departure as "by mutual agreement", sources close to the coach confirmed that it was clearly a dismissal.
The report added that the doubts about Alonso did not start with the loss of the Super Cup or defeats against Manchester City and Liverpool, but dated back to the first months of his tenure, where his appointment was not a choice by the club president Florentino Perez, but came with support from the executive management, amid a belief within the club in his capabilities after his successful stint with Bayer Leverkusen, while he never reached the level of confidence enjoyed by Carlo Ancelotti or Zinedine Zidane.
The report further explained that the situation reflected inside the locker room, where Alonso felt a lack of support, while some players believed that his decisions were not sufficiently supported by the management, making his position fragile, with one of his major crises being his handling of Vinicius Junior since the Club World Cup, leading up to substituting him in the classic match and his publicly angry reaction.
Alonso's attempts to impose additional discipline within the team added to his problems, as he tried to enforce punctuality and reduce the presence of people around the players at the training ground, but the approach was not well received by everyone.
Technically, clear disagreements emerged around the transfer market. Alonso was looking for a midfielder to dictate the pace of play, and was linked with Martin Zubimendi, but the management saw no need for this deal, considering that the available options were sufficient, which the coach felt weakened his project from the start.
With declining results, and the succession of injuries, criticism within the club escalated, especially after the decision to distance Antonio Pintus, the fitness coach under Zidane and Ancelotti. The frequency of injuries raised concerns within the management, and Pintus's return to work with the team directly after Alonso's dismissal carried a clear message.
Despite his attempts later to adapt and relax some of his rules, and grant the players more space, it came too late. A series of negative results, and the frustration that was apparent on the coach in the last weeks, solidified the management's conviction that the situation was no longer sustainable.
