Real Madrid’s trip to Alaves has become a crunch game for beleaguered coach Xabi Alonso
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Two wins in eight matches.
That is the record for Real Madrid over the past five weeks and why Xabi Alonso is under immense pressure in a rocky first season in charge of his former club.
Alonso looked to be off to a good start with Kylian Mbappé scoring at will and his team winning its first seven games of the season. Even a loss to Atletico Madrid was partially forgotten after a victory over Barcelona.
Then something went wrong. A loss at Liverpool in the Champions League last month sent the team into a nosedive. Losing at Anfield is acceptable for any club; three consecutive draws to Rayo Vallecano, Elche and Girona in La Liga set off the alarm bells at a Madrid that considers itself the best in the world.
But worse was to come: a humiliating 2-0 defeat to Celta Vigo followed by a 2-1 loss to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday. Both of those losses came in front of some disgruntled fans at the Santiago Bernabeu, who jeered the team.
Now all bets are off on Alonso’s future just months after he left Bayer Leverkusen following his exceptional job at the German club that culminated in the Bundesliga title in 2024.
Next up Madrid faces a trip to Alaves in northern Spain in the Spanish league on Sunday.
On feeling the criticism and doubts, Alonso said he is not surprised.
“You have to live with it, and when you’re the coach of Real Madrid, you have to be prepared to face it bravely, responsibly and self-critically, knowing that things can change,” the former Madrid midfielder said. “Despite the result, I’ve seen positive things individually and collectively. Other things haven’t gone so well, but we’re still in it.”
Key matches
A game at Alaves would normally be considered a comfortable outing for Madrid. But given its poor form and the pressure on Alonso, it could prove anything but.
Alaves is strong at home with only two losses in eight games in Vitoria this season, including a 1-0 win over Real Sociedad last round.
Leader Barcelona, meanwhile, has surged ahead of Madrid and holds a four-point advantage before it hosts Osasuna on Saturday.
Villarreal is in third just one point behind Madrid. It visits Levante on Sunday. Fourth-placed Atletico Madrid welcomes Valencia on Saturday.
Players to watch
Madrid’s fans will be eagerly waiting to see if Mbappé, who leads La Liga with 16 goals, will be available after he missed the loss against City reportedly due to a minor knee issue.
“We’ll go day-by-day,” Alonso said about Mbappé after the match. “Today he wasn’t fit to play, otherwise he would’ve played.”
The next top scorer in the league is Barcelona’s Ferran Torres.
With his 11 league goals, Torres has established himself as a real attacking alternative to Robert Lewandowski for Barcelona.
After Lewandowski started in a 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Tuesday, Torres could be back in the starting 11 for Osasuna.
Out of action
Madrid defender Éder Militão is sidelined after tearing a left-leg muscle in the loss to Celta.
Madrid will also be without suspended players Fran García, Dani Carvajal, Álvaro Carreras and Endrick, who all ran afoul of the referee in the Celta debacle.
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