Xabi Alonso claims the "scar" from Real Madrid has healed: He sees Chelsea as a project with room for a major leap forward
Xabi Alonso said during Chelsea's pre-season tour in Sydney that he had put the difficult experience at Real Madrid behind him and was entering the new season motivated, refreshed and ready to apply the lessons from the shortest and most unpleasant chapter of his coaching career. The Spanish coach did not try to play down his disappointment over the premature end of his tenure in Madrid, but stressed that after leaving he carried out a thorough personal and professional analysis. In his words, the "scar" has healed, while he used his time away from the dugout to restore his energy and once again feel the level of enthusiasm that a coach must convey to his players every day.
Alonso officially took charge of Chelsea on 1 July 2026 under a four-year contract. The London club presented him as the manager who should lead the next phase of the project following a turbulent season, a tenth-place finish in the Premier League and failure to qualify for European competition. Speaking to the British media, the 44-year-old explained that the league table is not the only measure of a team's quality. He believes Chelsea were not as poor as the final standings suggest and that he sees enough talent in the current squad to make significant progress, provided the club builds a more stable structure, a clearer playing philosophy and a better balance of personalities in the dressing room.
The "scar" from Madrid turned into a lesson
Alonso's return to Real Madrid in the summer of 2025 was presented as the beginning of a long-term era. On 25 May, the club announced that the former midfielder would lead the first team from 1 June 2025 until 30 June 2028, and expectations were enormous because of his status as a club legend and the results he had achieved at Bayer Leverkusen. Nevertheless, the partnership ended as early as 12 January 2026. Real Madrid stated in an official announcement that the decision had been made by mutual agreement, although the separation was publicly perceived as a dismissal after a period in which the team failed to develop an identifiable and sufficiently convincing style of play.
According to data published by beIN Sports, Alonso managed Real in 34 matches, recording 24 wins, four draws and six defeats. The final major blow came on 11 January, when Barcelona beat Real Madrid 3-2 in the Spanish Super Cup final in Jeddah. The end of the partnership was announced the very next day. That sequence of events further reinforced the impression that defeat in El Clásico was the immediate trigger, although the Spanish media had already been reporting for months on broader problems involving the team's play, relationships within the squad and the adaptation of the coach's demands to a dressing room full of established stars.
Alonso now openly admits that he did not analyse only formations, pressing or attacking organisation. In an interview carried by several European media outlets, he said that he had also thought about people management, his communication methods and the adjustments he could have made more quickly and precisely. He stressed that he reflected on both what had worked and what had not, without shifting responsibility onto individual players or the club's structures. Such an approach suggests that he does not regard the Madrid experience as proof that his footballing philosophy is unsustainable, but rather as a warning that elite tactics must be combined with an understanding of hierarchy, character and the everyday dynamics of the dressing room.
A break without obsessively following football
After leaving Madrid, Alonso did not immediately accept another job. He explained that he needed a period in which to recharge because, in his view, a coach cannot lead a team convincingly unless he himself is fully engaged, curious and emotionally ready. He also admitted that he did not watch much football during that period, an unusual statement for a coach known for his tactical curiosity and meticulous preparation. According to his own words, the break primarily helped him reconnect with his personal feel for the game rather than immediately search for another managerial position.
That decision is also important in the context of his career. As a player, Alonso worked with coaches of different styles, including José Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola, and he particularly emphasised how he used his time at Bayern to speak with Guardiola about tactical details and the reasoning behind individual decisions. He built his coaching reputation at Bayer Leverkusen, with whom he won the first German league title in the club's history. In the announcement of his appointment, Real Madrid recalled that he had won the Bundesliga, the German Cup and the Super Cup with Leverkusen, while the 2023/24 season was remembered for the unbeaten domestic league campaign and the domestic double.
It is precisely because of that success that his short spell in Madrid did not erase his reputation, but it did make it more complex. Chelsea have not hired a coach without risk, but a specialist who has already shown that he can transform a team quickly, while also demonstrating that his model cannot automatically be transferred to every environment. Alonso therefore arrives in London with greater experience, but also with less room to idealise his own methods. His message from Sydney was that disappointment can become a useful part of development only if a coach accepts it, analyses it and turns it into a concrete change in behaviour.
Why he chose Chelsea
Alonso stressed that his decision to move to Stamford Bridge was not made solely because of the size of the club or the appeal of the Premier League. According to his explanation, the decisive factor was the alignment between his analysis and that of the ownership structure and sporting management. From the outside, he said, he saw both positive aspects and causes for concern, and during talks with club officials he established that both sides assessed the problems that needed to be resolved in a similar way. He added that the partnership probably would not even have begun if their initial assessments had differed significantly.
When announcing the appointment, Chelsea said they saw in Alonso a combination of coaching quality, a clear playing model, leadership, character and an ability to collaborate across several areas important to the management of the first team. The four-year contract demonstrates an intention to establish the project on a longer-term basis, but the club's recent history warns that the length of a contract alone does not guarantee stability. Enzo Maresca left the club during the season despite having won the Conference League and the Club World Cup in the preceding period. His successor, Liam Rosenior, was appointed on 6 January 2026 with a contract until 2032, but departed as early as 22 April following results and performances the club deemed insufficient.
Calum McFarlane completed the season as interim coach. Under his leadership, Chelsea reached the FA Cup final, but lost 1-0 to Manchester City at Wembley on 16 May following a second-half goal from Antoine Semenyo. In the Premier League, the team finished tenth, having placed fourth a year earlier, won the Conference League and then become club world champions. That contrast explains Alonso's assertion that the situation is not entirely negative: within a short period, the same club showed that it could win on the biggest stage, but also that it could quickly lose direction without continuity.
Tenth place does not tell the whole story
Alonso does not dispute that tenth place was disappointing, but believes it does not describe the team's full potential. In his first official interview for Chelsea, he highlighted the quality of the players, their recent experience at the highest level and the possibility of creating a footballing identity that would reconnect the team, Stamford Bridge and the supporters. His objective, according to the club's announcement, is to build a squad capable of regularly competing for trophies, rather than merely producing an occasional successful run of results.
The main problem is not only technical. In recent years, Chelsea have had a large number of young and exceptionally talented players, but frequent changes of coach have made it difficult to establish stable roles, a shared language and a clear hierarchy. Alonso therefore speaks about balance between quality, positions, character and levels of maturity. His statement that relationships and team spirit must first be built before good football and victories can be expected demonstrates that the Madrid experience is directly influencing his priorities at Chelsea.
An important part of that change is also visible in the transfer policy. On 1 August, Chelsea officially confirmed the arrival of 35-year-old Danny Welbeck from Brighton on a contract until 2028. The club emphasised that the striker has made 400 Premier League appearances, has Champions League experience and has earned 42 caps for England. Welbeck was not brought in only as an additional attacking option, but also as a player capable of passing professional standards on to his younger teammates. At the same time, the media reported on the possible arrival of former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, but as of 3 August Chelsea had not announced his signing through their official channels, meaning the deal could not yet be treated as officially completed.
The first signs from Sydney
The pre-season tour of Australia and Asia gave Alonso his first extended period of work with the team away from the pressure of competitive matches. Chelsea took a group of 29 players to Sydney, and the opening appearance ended in a 6-4 victory over Western Sydney Wanderers. The result demonstrated attacking depth, particularly after João Pedro came on and scored three goals in nine minutes, but it also exposed serious defensive weaknesses. After the match, Alonso avoided dramatising the situation and stressed that the purpose of pre-season was to assess the players, their physical condition and the team's behaviour during different phases of play.
The second match in Sydney brought a 2-1 defeat to Tottenham in front of 80,363 spectators at Accor Stadium. After Kevin Danso was sent off early in the second half, Chelsea played with an extra man for a long period and created a series of opportunities, but failed to find the winning goal. Tottenham then punished those misses late on through Richarlison and won the match. Alonso received another early reminder that possession, territorial dominance and a greater number of chances are not enough without efficiency and control of transitional situations.
Those results cannot reliably predict the season, but they illustrate well the task awaiting him. Chelsea have enough pace, creativity and individual quality to threaten almost any opponent, but their structure without the ball, defence of set pieces and management of the match's tempo remain areas for improvement. At Leverkusen, Alonso was recognised for his flexibility between systems with three and four defenders, precise positioning during build-up play and quick attacks into space after winning possession. At Chelsea, he will have to adapt those principles to a different squad and to the Premier League, without trying simply to copy the model that worked in Germany.
The first competitive test comes against Fulham
Chelsea open the new Premier League season on 24 August away to Fulham at Craven Cottage, while their first home league match is scheduled against Brighton at the end of the same month. Because the club did not qualify for European competition, Alonso will have more time for training between matches during much of the autumn than rivals playing in Europe. That could make it easier to introduce new automatisms, but at the same time it removes the frequently used excuse of a congested schedule. A team with this amount of talent will be expected to make rapid progress in both organisation and results.
Alonso's starting position is therefore paradoxical. He is taking over a club that finished the season in tenth place, changed several coaches and missed out on Europe, but at the same time possesses a squad shaped by major investment and recent experience of winning international trophies. His optimism is not unfounded, but it will not be enough without consistent decisions, clear communication and a willingness from the board to support the process when the first problems arise. The relationship between the manager and the sporting leadership will be one of the key tests of the claim that both sides truly share the same analysis.
For Alonso, Chelsea represent an opportunity to prove that the Real Madrid episode was a developmental mistake rather than the limit of his coaching potential. For Chelsea, his appointment is an attempt to turn a talented but unstable project into a functional team with identity and accountability. The "scar" may have healed, but the true proof of recovery will not come from interviews or pre-season matches, but from the way the Spaniard responds when pressure, disagreements and a results crisis reappear in the Premier League.
Sources:
- The Times – interview with Xabi Alonso about his experience at Real Madrid, his choice of Chelsea and his assessment of the team's potential (link)
- Chelsea FC – official announcement of Xabi Alonso's appointment and details of the four-year contract (link)
- Chelsea FC – the new manager's complete first interview about the team's potential, culture and objectives (link)
- Real Madrid CF – official announcement of Alonso's appointment, the start of his contract and his previous successes at Bayer Leverkusen (link)
- Real Madrid CF – official statement on the mutual termination of the partnership on 12 January 2026 (link)
- Real Madrid CF – official report on the 3-2 defeat to Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final (link)
- beIN Sports – Alonso's statements about the "scar", self-criticism, people management and his break after Madrid (link)
- The Guardian – overview of Chelsea's tenth-place Premier League finish in 2025/26 and the broader context of the season (link)
- Chelsea FC – official announcement concerning Enzo Maresca's departure during the 2025/26 season (link)
- Chelsea FC – official announcement concerning Liam Rosenior's departure and the appointment of an interim coach (link)
- Chelsea FC – official report from the FA Cup final against Manchester City (link)
- Chelsea FC – official confirmation of Danny Welbeck's arrival and information about his experience (link)
- The Guardian – report on the victory over Western Sydney Wanderers and Alonso's statements about the team's balance (link)
- Chelsea FC – official report on the pre-season defeat to Tottenham and the attendance at the match in Sydney (link)
- Chelsea FC – the 2026/27 Premier League fixture list and confirmation that the season opens against Fulham (link)