Published On 4/27/2026
The appointment of Alvaro Arbeloa as coach of Real Madrid to succeed Xabi Alonso, who was dismissed from his position last January, was not a successful decision by President Florentino Perez, and the team’s results recorded during the season are the best evidence of that.
Real Madrid achieved one victory in the last 6 matches in all tournaments, bringing the team’s victories during the Arbeloa era to only 60.9% in 23 matches.
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Disastrous numbers for Arbeloa with Real Madrid
The Spanish newspaper “Marca” reported that this percentage is the worst for any Real Madrid coach who played at least 20 matches in all tournaments, since the dismissal of Bernd Schuster in 2008, who recorded a percentage of 59%.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid has lost 13 points in the Spanish League since Arbeloa took over as coach of the team, while playing 5 fewer matches than those led by Alonso, during whose era the “Merengue” dropped 12 points throughout the first half of the 2025-2026 season.
Arbeloa began his era (14 matches in La Liga) with very impressive results, and with him the team won the first 5 of them over Levante (2-0), Villarreal (2-0), Rayo Vallecano (2-1), Valencia (2-0), and Real Sociedad (4-1), and then topped the table with 60 points, two points behind Barcelona.
But Real Madrid began the period of bleeding points in a strange way and gave up a full 13 points at a time when its rival was winning all its matches, which made the difference between them rise to 11 points in favor of the Catalan team 5 rounds before the end.
Matches in which Real Madrid lost 13 points
- Osasuna 2-1 Real Madrid (Round 25).
- Real Madrid 0-1 Getafe (Round 26).
- Real Mallorca 2-1 Real Madrid (Round 30).
- Real Madrid 1-1 Girona (Round 31).
- Real Betis 1-1 Real Madrid (Round 32).
Big mistake
The Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo commented on these results, saying, “The numbers showed that the change of coach this season at Real Madrid was a miserable failure. The team did not find the expected stability with Arbeloa, whose results in La Liga worsened compared to his predecessor, Alonso.”
During the era of his predecessor Alonso, Real Madrid collected 45 points out of a possible 57, and the Royal Club achieved 14 victories, including a 2-1 victory over Barcelona in El Clasico, three draws and two defeats, all in 19 matches.
Real Madrid’s first defeat was very harsh and came against its host Atletico Madrid with a score of 2-5, and the second was a resounding defeat against Celta Vigo 0-2 at the Santiago Bernabeu.
With 5 rounds remaining until the end of the League, the gap between Barcelona and Real Madrid seems large. The former is preparing to win the title and needs only 5 points out of a possible 15, regardless of the results of the royal team, while the latter is close to ending the second season in a row without achieving major titles.
