Against Espanyol last month, Alonso subbed out Vinícius Júnior during a cooling break in the 77th minute, while Real Madrid was winning 2-0. Despite Alonso’s attempt to explain the move to the player and calm him down, the Brazilian was “visibly frustrated.”

Real Madrid turned in a solid performance but made some key defensive mistakes to suffer a 2-1 home loss to Manchester City in a Champions League loss that will put further pressure on Xabi Alonso. Los Blancos took the lead,

Xabi Alonso is ready to ‘wait’ for the Liverpool job if he is sacked by Real Madrid with the ‘pressure on’ Arne Slot, according to reports. The Reds improved in midweek to see off Inter Milan in the San Siro in a 1-0 win in the Champions League after winning just one of their previous six matches in all competitions.

Alonso went into the game with debate over his future after a run of sluggish performances from players who looked unhappy with their manager culminating in last weekend’s awful 2-0 home defeat to Celta Vigo in La Liga, which had brought a volley of whistles for the team at full time.