Real Madrid’s top brass has, for the first time, openly discussed sacking Xabi Alonso after the damaging defeat to Celta Vigo, with senior figures sounding out alternatives and warning the manager he could be out the door if they lose to Manchester City this week. Spanish outlet El Mundo says the board held a late night summit at the Bernabeu to thrash out the situation, and while Alonso survived the chop this time, the mood has clearly shifted.
The meeting, which apparently dragged on past midnight, was split over whether to pull the trigger immediately or give Alonso one last shot against City. With no agreement among the decision makers, the club reluctantly opted for continuity, but there was a united feeling that Real are running out of patience after a run of just two wins in seven. The defeat to Celta wasn’t written off as a bad night, it was seen as another symptom of a team going backwards.
Sources claim the hierarchy now seriously believe Alonso has lost the dressing room, with key players no longer responding to his methods. The pressure has been building since the Clasico fall out, when Vinicius was involved in a bust up that supposedly required a crisis meeting in Athens to get everyone back onside. That harmony clearly didn’t last. The limp pressing against Celta, Alonso’s tactical obsession, was singled out as yet more evidence the squad isn’t buying what he’s selling.
Alonso didn’t exactly pour cold water on that idea afterwards. He admitted Madrid didn’t wake up until they was a goal down and reduced to ten men after Fran Garcia’s sending off. “The reaction was when we were down to ten men, then the team pressed, ran… We are angry and we understand that the fans are too. It is everyone’s responsibility,” he said, hardly shielding his players, and they won’t have enjoyed hearing it.
The fallout has triggered an emergency search for replacements, and two names have instantly landed on the shortlist: Zinedine Zidane and Jurgen Klopp. The German is seen as a long shot, having walked away from Liverpool to take an executive role in the Red Bull football group, and friends say he has little appetite for managing again any time soon. Zidane, though, is different, he wants to coach again, and Madrid know it.
Zidane is still bruised from how his second spell ended, convinced the club and sections of the media never gave him a fair shake, but insiders say he’s kept the door open for the right offer. His dream job remains France, with Didier Deschamps expected to step aside after the World Cup, yet Madrid view him as a club man who could steady the ship on an interim basis if the Alonso project does collapse.
Real Madrid sit nervously in second place, four points off Barcelona, and face Manchester City in a Champions League tie that may decide Alonso’s fate. Lose, and he could be gone before the weekend. Win, and the crisis gets kicked down the road, at least until the next wobble. Either way, the Bernabeu hasn’t felt this combustible in years.
