Losing to City, Xabi Alonso's Miracle Glimmers

MADRID, THURSDAY — Xabi Alonso's position at Real Madrid is becoming increasingly precarious following the 1-2 defeat to Manchester City in the continuation of the UEFA Champions League at the Bernabeu Stadium, Thursday (11/12/2025) early morning WIB. Despite achieving poor results over the past month, including two consecutive home defeats, Real's executives are reportedly still interested in seeing how far Alonso can lead the team forward.

As is well known, Real Madrid is a very demanding team. No matter how much progress the team makes, results remain paramount. According to a report by The Athletic, Alonso's position is critical ahead of the crucial match against City.

However, Alonso has only been at Real for six months. The officials at Real will continue to monitor the team's progress under Alonso. Although it is not impossible that Alonso could lose his job if he fails to improve Real's performance in the near future.

Another crucial factor that prevents Aloson from being dismissed is Real's performance against City. Real demonstrated a winning mentality despite losing many key players such as Dean Huijsen, Eder Militao, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dani Carvajal, and Kylian Mbappe.

The evidence is that "Los Blancos" managed to take the lead first through a low shot by Rodrygo in the 28th minute. Despite losing many key players, Real was able to match the intensity of City's play, which was full and employed a high defensive line.

"Every time they gained possession of the ball, they punished us, especially with Rodrygo. We couldn't get into the game until that goal was scored. For many of my players, this was their first time coming to this stadium," said City Manager Pep Guardiola, praising Real's performance.

Ironically, the success of scoring first was not optimized by Real. After taking the lead, City managed to turn the situation around with a goal from Nico O'Reilly in the 35th minute and a penalty execution by Erling Haaland two minutes before the end of the first half.

Conceding two goals after being able to take the lead indicates instability within Alonso's team. This means that Rodrygo and his teammates failed to capitalize on the momentum of their advantage, ultimately conceding two goals within a relatively short period.

Leading by one goal should have allowed Real to score additional goals. In a situation where they were trailing, City was certainly motivated to attack more aggressively, which should have created gaps in their defense that could be exploited. In reality, the Real players lost their magical touch every time they managed to penetrate the final third of City's defense.

This weakness was evident in the match statistics. Real Madrid dominated the game, taking 16 shots, but only one was on target. Meanwhile, City was more efficient, with eight shots on target from 12 attempts. Real's chance quality was only 1.44 xG (expected goals). City, meanwhile, recorded an xG value of 2.58, indicating how dangerous their chances were.

The brilliance of Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois thwarted a series of opportunities from City, including two consecutive powerful shots from Haaland and Rayan Cherki. Courtois had to dive and scramble to save his goal. The Belgian national team goalkeeper recorded six crucial saves.

Both City and Real are in need of a victory to break free from a negative trend. Real has been plagued by inconsistency, having secured only two wins from five matches. Meanwhile, City, despite achieving three consecutive victories in the English Premier League, finds their position in the Champions League less secure following a significant 0-2 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen in the previous match. This situation prompted both Real and City to play very aggressively from the start of the match.

Real tends to attempt to exploit the transition scheme from defense to attack. City's high defensive line becomes an easy target for exploitation by Real's players, who try to move the ball quickly forward with long passes. This transitional situation also initiated Rodrygo's goal.

"This is a difficult moment for us, and also for him. Everything has not gone as we wished, and I want to show everyone that we stand united with our coach. We need this unity to move forward and achieve our goals," said Rodrygo.

After falling behind, Real made a strong effort to break through City's defense by shifting the flow of the ball from the left to the right area, and vice versa. However, the discipline of the City players in maintaining their areas made it very difficult for Real. The situation was exacerbated by the performance of attacking midfielder Jude Bellingham, who frequently lost his touch in the final third. The England international rarely delivered key passes, creating only three chances throughout the match, including one assist.

Alonso assessed that the match was very intense. Both City and Real managed to dominate at certain phases. Suffering two consecutive defeats will certainly displease the executives at Real. However, Alonso is determined to lead his team to recover in the next match.

"Our goal is clear, which is to be more consistent regardless of any competition we participate in or any opponent we face. This is a Champions League match, and we are raising our level of play in terms of concentration and tempo. We scored goals, created opportunities, and worked hard until the last second. We need to take this (positive aspect) and build on it," said Alonso.

Despite the loss, Real's position in the Champions League standings remains secure. "Los Blancos" occupies the seventh position with a total of 12 points, which means they are still in the automatic qualification zone for the round of 16. Meanwhile, City has successfully entered the top four with a collection of 13 points. (REUTERS)