The news of the afternoon is the surprising departure of Xabi Alonso from Real Madrid. The club issued a double statement just an hour ago announcing the departure of its current coach and that Álvaro Arbeloa, a former teammate and close friend of Alonso, will take over as head coach of the first team. Without announcing the terms or details of the contract, Arbeloa is expected to take the reins until at least the end of the season. Alonso is thus cutting short a three-year contract that began this season.
The news comes less than 24 hours after the 3-2 defeat to FC Barcelona that gave the Blaugrana another Spanish Super Cup, the third consecutive final they have won against Madrid. However, the feeling in the Real Madrid camp was that the team had performed better than expected, and there was almost unanimous agreement in the media that the coach would remain in place in the short term. Everyone was wrong.
Although the statement refers to a "mutual agreement", the details of the break-up are unknown. The national media are already speculating about a sudden dismissal, a decision that president Florentino Pérez had already considered before then made since last night's defeat. The fact that Xabi Alonso had not managed to implement his style or that the team had not quite defined its approach, together with the defensive image left in recent days against Atlético Madrid and Barça, would have sealed his fate.
However, another stream of speculation, especially international, suggests that it was Alonso's decision, and not that of the club's president (and therefore not a consensus decision), to leave the club, citing in this case a complete loss of authority over the squad and the club. Incidents such as Kylian Mbappé preventing his teammates from forming a guard of honour for the champions and disregarding the coach's orders support this theory.
Be that as it may, and perhaps the reasons and how the separation came about will become known in the near future, Álvaro Arbeloa, until today coach of Castilla (Madrid's second team) and with no experience in LaLiga's First Division as a coach, is Florentino Pérez's very risky bet for the rest of the season.