Supercup final against Barcelona in Jeddah last weekend. It didn't end well for Real Madrid that not only lost the match but also faced a big change just yesterday. Xabi Alonso left the team "by mutual agreement with the club". That was the official announcement. Maybe Alonso's "sacking-resignment" is actually no surprise, as his relationship with the players looked difficult from day one, and the pressure and the sacking rumours in the last weeks have been huge. I can also see very similar reasons to what Zidane wrote in his farewell letter to the Madridistas in 2021... The switch from Ancelotti's style to his was big and apparently not well accepted by some players. We'll probably never know the truth, but it's crystal clear that players like Endrick, Rodrygo, Valverde and Vinícius had many reasons for not being happy with Alonso.

Álvaro Arbeloa has been appointed as new head coach. Honestly, I don't know him very well as coach, but I do know he did very good with the Castilla team. So many similarities with Zidane's story... I wish Arbeloa all the best, and I hope he'll be able to earn the player's respect, what Xabi Alonso (despite his good reputation after his success in Germany) unfortunately didn't manage to do.

Supercup Final: Focus on Jude Bellingham

Jude Bellingham was genuinely one of the worst players in the final. He played mostly defensively, and consequently wasted most of his offensive potential as attacking midfield. In the first half he often helped Carreras stopping Yamal and Raphinha, and they did a great job: Barça's stars played below expectations. After the cooling break at minute 30, everything changed: no idea what our players drank, but the Blaugrana must have drunk a strong energy drink because they restarted the match with the pace and the desire they showed in the semifinal against Athletic Bilbao. And the result was 4 goals in the additional time. Gonzalo's equaliser came from one of the few attacks by Bellingham, that led to a corner, then to a woodwork and then to the goal.

In the second half, Bellingham missed some dangerous balls and even committed a foul on De Jong at the edge of the penalty box. Luckily, one of the few things Raphinha did wrong in the match was that free kick... I can recall Bellingham attacking space for the very first time at minute 70.

Barça deserved to win, no doubt.

Real Madrid were weak, with bad attitude, and some players didn't play in their favourite positions due to the ongoing defensive emergency or questionable tactical choices.

Xabi Alonso wasn't perfect but deserved a better treatment... Good luck to Arbeloa: it will be a Real challenge.

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Thoughts on the match and on the new coach? Hit reply and let me know!

See you next Tuesday!

Marta