The machinery of Real Madrid does not just chew up managers; it predigests them before they even step foot in the technical area. When a La Liga contemporary recently noted they "feel sorry" for Xabi Alonso amid the deafening noise linking him to the Santiago Bernabéu, it wasn't a comment on the Bayer Leverkusen manager's capability. It was a lament for his inevitable loss of peace. The "White House" is currently in the grip of a familiar neurosis, one I witnessed firsthand covering the frantic dismantling of the first Galácticos era two decades ago.
Carlo Ancelotti, a man whose eyebrow raises carry more weight than most managers' tactical dissertations, is currently navigating a storm of his own making—or rather, a storm made by the signing of Kylian Mbappé. The friction is palpable. But to look at Xabi Alonso as the immediate panacea is to ignore twenty years of history that suggests the "Next Great Hope" is often the first casualty of Madrid's impossible standards.
The Ghost of Manuel Pellegrini (2009-2010)
To understand the peril Alonso faces, we must rewind to the 2009-2010 season. Florentino Pérez had returned to the presidency, bringing with him Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká, and Karim Benzema. To steer this new armada, he hired Manuel Pellegrini. The Chilean was, by all metrics, a gentleman and a scholar of the game. He led Madrid to a then-club record 96 points in La Liga.
It didn't matter. He was a dead man walking by December. Why? Because the specter of José Mourinho was looming over the continent, culminating in Inter Milan’s triumph at the Bernabéu in the Champions League final. The press had decided Pellegrini was merely a seat-warmer for the "Special One."
We are seeing a mirror image today. Ancelotti, despite winning a Double last season, is being treated as a placeholder for Alonso. The difference is tactical context. Pellegrini was fired for failing to win the Champions League; Ancelotti is under fire for failing to find tactical balance. The media's obsession with Alonso—based on his invincible Bundesliga run—ignores the fact that the Leverkusen ecosystem is radically different from the star-studded anarchy of Madrid.
"The jersey of Real Madrid is white. It can stain of mud, sweat, and even blood, but never of shame." — Santiago Bernabéu. Today, the shame is not in losing, but in lacking a 'style' defined by the press.
Tactical Dysmorphia: Alonsoball vs. The Ancelotti Way
The clamor for Alonso is driven by a desire for a system. Modern football fetishizes the system manager—the Guardiolas, the Klopps, and now, the Alonsos. Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen plays a meticulously drilled 3-4-2-1. It relies on wing-backs like Álex Grimaldo and Jeremie Frimpong acting as secondary wingers, while dual number 10s (Florian Wirtz and Jonas Hofmann) operate in the half-spaces.
Compare this to the Real Madrid of 2024 or the legendary "Galácticos 1.0" of 2003. When Vicente del Bosque was unceremoniously sacked in 2003—a decision that remains the club’s original sin—it was because Perez wanted more flair, more chaos. He got Carlos Queiroz, and the team collapsed because selling Claude Makélélé to buy David Beckham destroyed the engine room.
Today, Madrid has committed the inverse error. They have lost Toni Kroos—their modern Makélélé in terms of tempo control—and replaced him with vertical runners like Mbappé and Endrick. Bringing Alonso in to fix this is asking a chef to cook a soufflé using only a sledgehammer. Alonso’s football requires positional discipline; Madrid’s current squad is built for improvisational jazz.
The "Zidanes y Pavones" Fallacy
The sympathy directed at Alonso from his peers stems from the realization that managing Real Madrid is 20% coaching and 80% ego management. Alonso has never managed a locker room of Ballon d'Or winners. At Leverkusen, he is the star. At Madrid, he would be a servant to the stars.
Look back to the 2005-2006 season. The collapse of the Galácticos led to the resignation of Florentino Pérez (his first stint). The locker room was toxic, filled with Brazilian cliques and Spanish veterans at war. Managers like Vanderlei Luxemburgo tried to impose systems (the infamous "magic rectangle") and were laughed out of the building. Juan Ramón López Caro stepped in, but the rot was too deep.
Alonso is intelligent—perhaps the most intelligent midfielder of his generation. He knows that stepping into the Bernabéu now, with a squad that is tactically unbalanced and politically volatile, is a poisoned chalice. The "I feel sorry" sentiment reflects the burden of expectation: Alonso is expected to arrive and instantly replicate the 2014 dominance (where he, ironically, was the midfield anchor) without the necessary tools to do so.
The Burden of the "Chosen One"
There is a distinct parallel here to the arrival of Zinedine Zidane in 2016. However, Zidane had an advantage Alonso does not: he inherited a midfield trio of Casemiro, Kroos, and Modric at the peak of their powers. That midfield solved tactical problems on the fly. Alonso would be inheriting a midfield that doesn't know if it wants to be physical (Valverde, Camavinga, Tchouaméni) or technical (Guler, Modric).
| Era | The "Savior" Figure | The Reality | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003-2004 | Carlos Queiroz | Tactical genius behind Man Utd | Collapsed late season due to thin squad |
| 2010-2013 | José Mourinho | The Anti-Guardiola | 1 League title, scorched earth exit |
| 2024-2025? | Xabi Alonso | The Invincible Tactician | Pending... |
If Alonso arrives next summer, he faces the specific challenge of Kylian Mbappé. The Frenchman occupies the same spaces as Vinícius Júnior. It is a tactical redundancy that Ancelotti, for all his man-management brilliance, has failed to solve. Expecting Alonso to solve it through "system" alone is naive. Systems require players to submit to the collective; Galácticos submit only to the scoreboard.
Why Waiting is the Only Option
The managerial carousel is spinning faster than ever. Jurgen Klopp needed four years to win a major trophy at Liverpool. Ferguson needed nearly seven at United. Real Madrid operates on a timeline of weeks, not years. The "La Liga manager" quoted in the reports likely sees the writing on the wall: if Alonso leaves Leverkusen too soon, he risks burning his reputation on the pyre of Madridismo impatience.
We must stop rushing the coronation. Xabi Alonso is a tremendous prospect, a manager who sees the game in high definition while others watch in analog. But he is currently suffering from a dip in form at Leverkusen—a natural regression to the mean after a historic season. This struggle is actually good for him. It teaches resilience in a way that winning the Bundesliga unbeaten never could.
Madrid needs to resolve its identity crisis before it appoints its next architect. Is it a team of superstars or a team of structure? Until Florentino Pérez answers that question, bringing in Alonso is not a hiring; it is a sacrifice. The sympathy is warranted. In modern football, the crown weighs heavy, but at Real Madrid, it is often lined with thorns.