Too good for Real Madrid

I have always admired Xabi Alonso as a player and manager, and that even though he played and managed a team that I am not fond about: Real Madrid.

But today proved that Xabi Alonso is probably too good for Real Madrid as the club announced that he is leaving "in mutual consent" after 8 months managing the side and following a 2-3 defeat to arch-rivals FC Barcelona in the Spanish Super-Cup final. Rumours swirl about Xabi Alonso being forced out by the players who never really adopted his ideas for the team. It is the example of a manager being too big for a club, as everything seems to indicate from his time in Bayer Leverkusen that Xavi Alonso is a decent and guy whose football ideas can give important results and that he is respected by his players. 

I hope to see Mr. Alonso succeed in a different club.

Another former player, Alvaro Arbeloa, will take over Real Madrid for now. The team is also trailing FC Barcelona in the league, and from what we saw with Xabi Alonso, Arbeloa will be struggling with a team of players who see themselves as the center of the world.

New Managers in Real Madrid and Brazil

It was a change foretold: Xabi Alonso, the former Real Sociedad, Liverpool and Real Madrid successful manager of Bayer Leverkusen was going to manage Real Madrid one day. After Carlo Ancelotti's meager season that appears to end with no titles, Xabi Alonso will now try to bring the unlikely success he brought to Leverkusen (giving them their first Bundesliga title ever), to Real Madrid.

Despite the poor season Carlo Ancelotti leaves Madrid with three Champions League titles in his two stints as Real Madrid manager, as well as two league titles, a Copa del Rey and a Club World Cup title since his second stint started in 2021. 

While Ancelotti is surely one of the most successful managers in the world, he is taking on a huge challenge, perhaps the biggest in world football: he will be the new manager of Brazil!And the first non-Brazilian ever to manage Brazil, so all eyes will be on him as Brazil tries to get up again from Dorival Junior's disastrous stint and humiliating defeat to Argentina in the World Cup qualifiers. 

All eyes will surely be on Ancelotti, much more than on Xabi Alonso!