At first glance, it appears that Real Madrid’s defeat to Barcelona in the final of the Spanish Super Cup was the final nail in the coffin for Xabi Alonso.He was sacked almost immediately after the g...
At first glance, it appears that Real Madrid’s defeat to Barcelona in the final of the Spanish Super Cup was the final nail in the coffin for Xabi Alonso.
He was sacked almost immediately after the game, leaving many shocked with the abrupt decision. After all, his team had just won a massive derby clash against Atletico Madrid in the semifinal and all signs pointed to that result winning him back the board’s favour.
Now, however, MARCA bring to light that it was, in fact, the Atletico Madrid game that saw Florentino Perez and Co. lose faith in Alonso.
A poor gameplan
The derby win was not celebrated within the club. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
Indeed, the Real Madrid president and board were very dissatisfied with the way in which Alonso set up his team to take on Atletico Madrid in the semifinal of the Spanish Super Cup.
On the night, Real Madrid defended deep and rode on the momentum generated by Federico Valverde’s early free-kick stunner. They had less than 50% possession, had less than half the number of shots as the opponent, and won just one corner all night.
The club’s higher-ups interpreted the situation to be Alonso’s lack of capabilities that led him to organise such a game plan. His decision to abandon the idea of building organised attacks disappointed them.
Further, Alonso set up the team to rely on Thibaut Courtois’ long-balls to Jude Bellingham and Gonzalo Garcia.
On the night, the Belgian sent over 40 long balls, and the Real Madrid players could only capitalise on a small fraction of them against Los Rojiblancos’ defenders. That, in turn, gave Atletico Madrid the chance to control the match.
That, coupled with the repeated strategy of defending deep against Barcelona, may well have cost the club legend his job as the first-team manager.
Category: General Sports
