The Shock Announcement
This morning, the official announcement that Xabi Alonso sacked is the headline of the day woke up the football world. Florentino Perez acted ruthlessly less than 24 hours following the defeat against Barcelona in the 3-2 Spanish Super Cup.
Although Marca first reported that the manager faced no threat, the board has become impatient. The decision confirms a provocative forecast of Joan Laporta in 2024, who pointed to the intra-team division of a star locker room.
A Pattern of Departures
The career history of Kylian Mbappé offers a bleak view of how the managers have changed. The French superstar has gone through five or six coaches of the top caliber since 2018.
- The Track Record: Mbappé has lost six big managers in only seven years: Unai Emery (2018), Thomas Tuchel (2020), Mauricio Pochettino (2022), Christophe Galtier (2023), Carlo Ancelotti and his current manager, Alonso.
- The Jeddah Incident: For instance, the tension was evident in the medal ceremony of the super cup. Alonso ordered his team to create a guard of honor over Barcelona. Mbappé publicly disobeyed the command, indicating his teammates to get out of the field right away, which undermined his manager.
- The Paradox: Despite this, Mbappé put a tribute on social media a short time after the news broke, which reads: Thank you, the trust that you put in me was an honor to learn with you.
Authority vs. Star Power.
The lack of buy-in and locker room authority in defense seems to be the critical problem. Luis Enrique earlier cautioned Mbappé when they were at PSG by telling him that he needs to be much like Michael Jordan by first being the best defender to be a leader.
Furthermore, that defensive work rate under Alonso was also inconsistent. The incident in Jeddah proved that the power balance shifted completely to the player and left the manager alone.
Laporta’s Prophecy
A failure to control the dressing room prompted the move to have Xabi Alonso sacked, which echoes the very caution that Barcelona President Joan Laporta gave two years ago.
Laporta added that he was not jealous that Real Madrid had signed Mbappé as it would be a mistake that would create distortion in the environment of the team. Consequently, Alonso is gone, and the hierarchy of the locker room has been challenged, which means that Real Madrid will have a stormy rest of the season.
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