Gareth Bale has earlier this year given us an impression of two Real Madrid coaches with legend status. Zinedine Zinedine barely stopped by to talk strategy, everything was drilled with short exercises on the training field. Carlo Ancelotti was the coach who really saw you as a player and got involved in most things. Both successful coaches, Xabi Alonso never got the opportunity. Conflict with some of the club’s biggest, established stars put an end to the mission.
Xabi Alonso was touted to lead Real Madrid for the long run and into a new era. Seven months into his debut season, the club and coach agreed that there was no way forward. Over the past few months, there has been speculation that star players were involved in pushing Alonso out of the club. Before the Champions League match against Bayern Munich, Vinicius Jr. talks for the first time about his relationship with Alonso.
There were reports in the Spanish media about players who more or less opposed Alonso in protest at the way he managed the team and the distribution of playing time. One of the superego stars who got to experience new relationships with less playing time was Vinicius.
“My time with Xabi was a learning experience. I have become a better person. I couldn’t work with him, but I have a good relationship with (Alvaro) Arbeloa, and he has given me a lot of confidence – just like Ancelotti did,” Vinicius Junior said, according to Marca.
In other words, Xabi Alonso didn’t have Real Madrid’s second-highest-paid player and biggest attacking asset on his team – and lost.
