Real Madrid decided to leave Xabi Alonso after Los Blancos lost to Barcelona in El Clasico in the Spanish Super Cup final. That was the 5th defeat in the last 6 Super Classic matches, sweeping away the young coach's chair after only 7 months in charge at the Bernabeu.
Not long after that, former defender Alvaro Arbeloa was appointed interim. This is the 17th coach of Real Madrid in the era of owner Florentino Perez, showing the harshness of this billionaire with the Los Blancos captain's seat.
However, the change of coach does not change the situation. Real Madrid entered the Spanish King's Cup with only facing the third-tier team Albacete. Although the home team is struggling to stay in this third-tier league, Real Madrid still lost and the atmosphere became heavier than ever.
The problems Xabi Alonso left for Real Madrid are the lack of sharpness in physique and spirit, the lack of people capable of leadership when the results are not good. Real also does not have enough world-class defenders, no midfielders capable of organizing play and the attacking line has difficulty penetrating the opponent's solid defense.
However, despite the difficulties in reality, both Perez and Arbeloa can hardly imagine the team being eliminated from 2 domestic cups in just 4 days. The defeat to Albacete is extremely unacceptable but also difficult to completely blame Arbeloa. The young coach has never had experience at the top, only starting his coaching career with Real Madrid's youth team in the third division.
In the starting lineup against Albacete, Real Madrid does not have the service of a series of key players such as Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, Thibaut Courtois, Alvaro Carreras, Rodrygo and Aurelien Tchouameni. However, they still have many big and talented names such as Vinicius Junior, Federico Valverde, Dean Huijsen, Arda Guler and Franco Mastantuono. Therefore, this defeat is a true collapse, irrefutable, dragging the situation from bad to the extreme of bad.
Real Madrid's fitness and energy also seemed to decline significantly in the second half. This is a sign that fitness issues are causing difficulties for both Ancelotti and Alonso, as well as a lack of confidence and determination. That is a regular feature in the past 18 months, a period of poor results for Los Blancos.
There are almost no signs of determination, fighting spirit and pride that Arbeloa promised to bring to the team on Tuesday. His substitutions are not effective. Conversely, when Arbeloa switched to a 3-defender formation and fielded captain Dani Carvajal who has just recovered from injury in his first match since October 2025, nothing changed.
This is one of the worst defeats in Real Madrid history at the Copa del Rey. It is similar to the 0-4 defeat to third-tier team Alcorcon in the only season Manuel Pellegrini led Los Blancos in October 2009. Also the tiny team Alcoyano, Real Madrid was once again eliminated from the Copa del Rey in January 2021.
After the match, in the press conference room, Arbeloa admitted all his fault to himself and was ready to face defeat. The young coach shared that in his career as a player he has suffered many defeats that are even worse than this and learned many lessons to mature. Arbeloa also looked directly at the team's physical weakness and hoped that the return of assistant Antonio Pintus would improve this.
This weekend, Real Madrid will face another weak team, Levante. If they continue to fail, perhaps Arbeloa's temporary seat will not be near immediately. This is an unwanted scenario, but if it happens, it is not surprising with the current crisis.
