Image Credit: @MartinsCyn Twitter

What started out as a promising start to the season for Real Madrid has turned into somewhat of a nightmare as Los Blancos will finish yet another season with no competitive trophies won. From leading the race for the La Liga title to everything falling apart after 1 El Clásico cup final defeat and the departure of their head coach Xabi Alonso, Real Madrid’s season has gone from an upward trajectory to a downward spiral.

Xabi Alonso’s Tenure

On May 25th 2025, Real Madrid officially announced the arrival of Xabi Alonso as the new Head Coach for the club going into this current season. The Real Madrid legend was in charge of Los Blancos for 34 games in all competitions where he boasted:

  • Wins - 24
  • Draws - 4
  • Defeats - 6
  • Win Percentage – 70.5%
  • Goals Scored – 72
  • Goals Conceded – 38
  • Clean Sheets – 10

Xabi Alonso also won his first El Clásico derby which quite ironically kicked started the tensions with the Real Madrid dressing room. Xabi Alonso infamously substituted off Vinícius Júnior during the late stages of the derby to which the Brazilian’s frustrations could be visibly seen to the world as this was not the first and it was also not the last time Alonso substituted Vini Jr in games. During the Spanish’s legend tenure, Vinícius Júnior had started 22 games for Real Madrid and only completed 90 minutes 7 times which drew much frustration from the Brazilian winger. The tensions between the head coach and his players further escalated a few months later during the Supercopa de España final El Clásico rematch. Real Madrid failed to defeat their rivals this time around and Xabi Alonso’s “star player” Kylian Mbappé seemingly led the revolute against the head coach as the Real Madrid players refused to give their rivals a Guard of Honour despite Xabi Alonso’s orders. This moment resulted in Alonso losing the respect of the dressing room and seemingly the board as the former Bayer Leverkusen manager stepped down as Real Madrid head coach through a “mutual agreement”.

Many speculate that this was the beginning of Real Madrid’s downfall this season, the club backing “player power” over a club legend and head coach who has a successful young resumé. Since then, fans have started pointing fingers at certain players as the cause for Real Madrid’s current crisis and the name that gets brought up the most is Real Madrid’s top scorer Kylian Mbappé.

Mbappé’s Impact and Injury

On June 3rd 2024, Kylian Mbappé was announced as Real Madrid’s new signing arriving on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain. During his first season at the club, Mbappé struggled a bit to get his feet under the table however a player of his calibre was not going to take long to get going at Real Madrid as the Frenchman went on to score 43 goals in 56 appearances for the club. The only rewards for his goal scoring prowess were winning the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA International Cup which are cup competitions that Real Madrid qualified for due to their UEFA Champions League success in the previous season. Domestically however Real Madrid failed to win any trophies that season and that trend as continued into this season as Los Blancos have once again failed to secure any trophy success in back-to-back seasons.

Kylian Mbappé is seemingly being blamed as the “caused and effect” of Real Madrid’s trophy draught as ever since his arrival, Real Madrid have struggled to win trophies including the UEFA Champions League which normally was a common feat for the Spanish Giants. Many claim that signing Mbappé was a mistake as his arrival allegedly brought imbalance to the team despite his continued goal scoring record, the claims suggest that Real Madrid’s structure is set to accommodate the 27-year-old Frenchman’s goal scoring and that is causing the team to regress. The argument went further that Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior cannot play together as both men prefer to play on the left wing as well as there have been multiple occasions of the duo not passing the ball to each other in crucial moments in games which has only gone to further support the claims. Fans have even gone as far as to start an online petition for the sale of Kylian Mbappé as they also now blame him for the recent dressing room conflict that has been making headlines as of late. The reason for the blame was because Mbappé was seen in Italy on vacation with his girlfriend while he is currently out recovering from an injury which has seemingly sparked frustrations amongst the Real Madrid players.

Dressing Room Conflict

In early May of this year, reports were circulating that Real Madrid defenders Antonio Rüdiger and Álvaro Carreras were having behind closed doors tensions as the reports claimed that Rüdiger had allegedly slapped Carreras in the face in the Real Madrid dressing room back in February of this year. The tensions only seemed to have worsened as on-field arguments between the two were seemingly visible during some games such as Real Madrid’s 2-1 defeat to Mallorca at Son Moix. Carreras broke his silence on the reports and confirmed that there was an "isolated matter of no relevance" between the two however it has been resolved.

The most recent and headline breaking conflict was the one between midfielders Federico Valvede and Aurélien Tchouaméni. It was reported that the two midfielders had growing tensions between them during training and despite the rest of the Real Madrid players and staffs’ attempts to create peace between the players, the tensions grew into a reported fight between the two midfielders after training. The conflict resulted in Valverde suffering a head injury and was sent to hospital with the Uruguayan midfielder missing the most recent El Clásico derby defeat to FC Barcelona. Both players have been fined €500k and have seemingly apologised to one another however the damage has been done with many speculating that Tchouaméni will be put up for sale in the upcoming summer transfer window despite the player’s reported claims of wanting to remain at Real Madrid.

Jose Mourinho Return?

With the all chaos in the dressing rooms as well as yet another El Clásico defeat which has resulted in their rivals FC Barcelona winning yet another trophy, Real Madrid has been on the lookout for a new head coach to help manage the chaos at the club and the name that seems to be the favourite on the list is The Special One Jose Mourinho. Jose Mourinho is no stranger to managing big egos, his history of doing so is a large part of his reputation as a manager which is likely why Real Madrid have begun talks with the Portuguese manager for a potential return to the Santiago Bernabéu. The Benfica manager is reportedly open to a return to Real Madrid despite Benfica’s objections as well as Mourinho’s return would be seen as controversial choice given the recent past of The Special One’s stance in regards to the alleged racial abuse received by Vinícius Júnior back in February. Jose Mourinho is reportedly amongst 4 candidates for the head coach position at Real Madrid and the final decision will be left up to the Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez, on who will be the one to help control the current chaos at the club and return them to their trophy winning glory days.