Real Madrid set to give another chance to Xabi Alonso despite their distressing loss to Manchester City in the Champions League
- Mayank Srivastava
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Real Madrid suffered yet another distressing defeat as they slumped to Pep Guardiola's Manchester City at the Bernabeu last night in the Champions League. The 2-1 scoreline handed the Los Blancos their 2nd consecutive defeat in all competitions, making Xabi Alonso the fastest manager to suffer back-to-back defeats with Real Madrid since Santiago Solari in 2018.
The game started on a positive note for the mighty Galacticos as they created a couple of dangerous chances to put Man City on their toes within the first 20 minutes of the game. It wasn't long before Rodrygo opened the scoreline with a sensational tight-angle finish, putting an end to his 32-match goal drought.
Madrid were obviously missing Kylian Mbappe's presence upfront but still showed character absence by using Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo to push forward from the wings. Jude Bellingham was observed in a more advanced role, which reminded us of his role during his first season at Madrid.
However, Real's momentum was cut short as City equalised just minutes later via a scrappy goal from Nico O'Reilly, which came from a rare mistake by Thibaut Courtois, who failed to hold onto the ball after the initial header fired straight at him from a corner kick delivery.
The hosts were only beginning to recover from O'Reilly's goal when a moment of madness from Madrid's star defender Antonio Rudiger gave away a cheap penalty to Manchester City after he deliberately brought Erling Haaland down inside his own box, despite being completely away from the play. Obviously Haaland made no mistake in burying the ball at the back of the net from the spot, which turned out to be the deciding goal of the game.
Despite all their efforts in the second half, Real Madrid fail to crawl back into the game and equalise, eventually succumbing to Man City's two first-half goals in what was widely considered by many to be a do-or-die game for Xabi Alonso.
"The numbers speak for themselves": Real Madrid confirm their trust in Xabi Alonso
The turbulence and uncertainty around Xabi Alonso's role arose after several reports emerged, claiming that several high-profile squad members, along with a few club executives, are "unhappy" with the former Bayer Leverkusen manager's work ethic. A report from Deadline Day Live claimed that the list of players who want to get rid of Xabi Alonso includes Vinícius Júnior, Rodrygo, Federico Valverde, Brahim Díaz, Ferland Mendy, and Endrick.
Reports from several sources had even claimed that the Real Madrid management were "seriously considering" getting rid of Xabi Alonso, after securing just 1 win in their last 7 games before last night. Like we mentioned earlier, the City game was rumored to be the last chance for the Spaniard to save his job, and failing to secure a win would result in his departure.
However, now, Real Madrid have confirmed their trust in Xabi Alonso, showcasing their patience towards the 44-year-old. Even after the loss to Manchester City last night, the Real Madrid management have not decided to sack Xabi Alonso as despite going through a poor run of form recently, the Los Blancos have managed to win 15 out of their 22 games under Alonso's reign, including the sensational 2-0 El Clásico victory in October.
On top of that, Rodrygo, Thibaut Courtois, Jude Bellingham and Raul Asencio also extended their support to the manager publicly, which gave an indication that the majority of the dressing room is "Xabi In", despite a significant part still being "Xabi Out".
