Xabi Alonso and his students are going through a pivotal period of the season, unfortunately it is not really good. After an easy win over Olympiakos in the Champions League, they dropped points against Girona in La Liga. At the end of the day, it was Los Blancos' third consecutive draw in the domestic league, putting them in a position where Barcelona took the top spot with 1 point less.
Kylian Mbappe is still the brightest star of the Bernabeu team, but the French striker cannot carry it like this forever. The question is whether a collapse will come to Alonso's side immediately if Mbappe is unable to play.
There is a certain division in the Real Madrid dressing room, looking at the incident between Vinicius and Alonso. Conflicts have been quietly emerging since October as many players have failed to grasp the Spanish strategist's tactical direction.
Before the away match in Greece in midweek, Alonso was also asked a lot about this issue at the press conference. The Real Madrid captain has denied all negative information and said he will not mention any similar issues anymore.
Real Madrid's failure to beat Girona, a team at the bottom of the table, is considered a disaster for Alonso. At Real Madrid, a team that is always under pressure to win every match and win every tournament, this series of matches directly brings a sense of insecurity to Alonso.
For a squad with countless big stars like Real Madrid, Alonso has to harmonize everything is the ultimate task, sometimes even more important than how to score a goal to win a specific match. Vinicius - Rodrygo are not in favor, while Mbappe - Bellingham are in favor. These are the team's ministries and the number 1 hopes of boss Perez and Alonso forced to push everyone back to the same front line.
To get back to good form, thereby driving away the dark clouds that are covering the Valdebebas training center, Alonso really needs the return of pillars like Antonio Rudiger. The German star returned to the starting lineup earlier than expected and this is the best news for Alonso. In the recent series of matches, Real's ability to easily penetrate the net by opponents is the biggest reason for the negative impact on their performance.
More than ever, Alonso needs to prove that he is capable of leading Real Madrid when owner Perez has never been patient. Coaching bench monuments such as Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane are always in a state of alarm when the team loses a few matches or is left empty-handed in big arenas.
Alonso returns to the Bernabeu to build another empire after a successful period of Ancelotti. That task is much more difficult than when he worked at Leverkusen. If he cannot help Real Madrid win the Champions League or La Liga this season, Alonso's future will fall into a state of alarm as many other famous strategists are waiting for opportunities at the Bernabeu.
