Published on: Dec 12, 2025 07:45 pm IST
Madrid have only secured two wins in their last eight games, and now are four points adrift of Barcelona in the La Liga standings and six points behind Arsenal in the Champions League table. The 1-0 defeat against Liverpool started the downfall, and it could have been worse after three successive draws vs Rayo Vallecano, Elche and Girona.
It is also being reported that Alonso doesn’t have a good relationship with a huge part of the dressing room and has fallen out with winger Vinicius Jr.
In their 2-1 win against Manchester City on Wednesday, Rodrygo was seen hugging Alonso during his goal celebration. Speaking after the match, the Brazilian said, “We know there’s a lot of pressure here.”
“It’s normal when things don’t go your way on the field. After my goal, I went to hug Xabi to show the team’s unity. I knew it was important to have that moment.”
“It’s a difficult time. It is for us and it is for him [Alonso], too. Things aren’t working out and I wanted to show people that we are united with our coach. I know a lot of things are always said. They often try to create a lot of things and I just wanted to say that, that we were united and that we need this unity to move forward and achieve our goal,” he added.
Alonso, a former Madrid player, was appointed head coach of the Spanish club on June 1, 2025, succeeding Carlo Ancelotti. Ancelotti was Alonso’s manager at both Real Madrid (2013-14) and Bayern Munich (2016-17).
