Real Madrid have parted ways with Xabi Alonso after just seven months in charge at the Bernabeu.
The Spanish coach was hired from Bayer Leverkusen after a stunning run in the Bundesliga, with the Basque helping to dethrone Bayern Munich and end a run of 11 successive league titles, but he quickly found himself under pressure amid mixed results this season.
Real Madrid lost 4-3 to Barcelona in the Supercopa final on Sunday and trail their rivals by four points at the top of La Liga, while they sit seventh in Champions League table.
A club statement on Monday read: “Real Madrid C. F. wishes to announce that, by mutual agreement between the club and Xabi Alonso, it has been decided to bring his time as first team coach to an end.
“Xabi Alonso will always carry the affection and admiration of all Madridistas because he is a Real Madrid legend and has always represented the values of our club. Real Madrid will always be his home.
“We would like to thank Xabi Alonso and all his coaching staff for their hard work and dedication throughout this time, and wish them the best of luck in this new stage of their lives.
Alvaro Arbeloa, a former teammate of Alonso’s at Spain, Liverpool and in the Spanish capital who has impressed as coach of Real Madrid B, has been appointed his successor.
Alonso’s Madrid reign began with a run to the Club World Cup semi-finals in the summer before 13 wins in 14 games, but the tide began to turn against him in November with a Champions League defeat to Liverpool.
Results since then have been mixed, though he was given the backing from some of his players in early December with Jude Bellingham saying: “The manager’s been great. I personally have a great relationship with him, a lot of the lads do as well.
“After the first run of games we had some really great conversations internally and we felt we were on the back side of that form.”In the past couple of games we let ourselves down again.
“No one’s downing tools, no one’s complaining and moaning thinking the season is over.”
However, the latest defeat to Barcelona appeared to be the final nail in the coffin for Alonso who was swiftly replaced with Arbeloa following the announcement of his sacking.
As Real Madrid boss, Alonso won 24 of his 34 games in charge with four draws and six defeats across all competitions since his appointment in the summer of 2025 but he clashed with high-profile players such as Vinicius Jr and Real president Florentino Perez.
Alonso had the best win percentage of any of Real Madrid boss over the previous decade having won 71% of his matches in charge. That figure is higher than his predecessor Carlo Ancelotti (68.8%) and Zinedine Zidane (69.8%) who famously led Real to a hat-trick of Champions League wins between 2016-18.
Arbeloa has been head coach of Real Madrid B since the start of this season and was previously a coach in Real’s academy.
In the 2022-23 season, the 42-year-old guided the U19s team to the treble – winning their league, Copa del Rey tournament and the Champions Cup title.
He was also a Real Madrid player and played alongside Alonso at both Real and Liverpool.
