What is wrong with Real Madrid in the 2025/26 Season?

Real Madrid has been one of the worst-performing teams when it comes to away games; they have failed to win any crucial competitive match against a big opponent on a basis that is really hurtful for the overall team. 

Against Valladolid, we saw Mbappe barely making any runs behind the defense. What we saw was blatant manipulation of the ball from Vini Jr. 

We are yet to see the Xabi Ball that he implemented in Bayer Leverkusen. 

One problem with the team now points towards the work rate; the run-behind, which was so crucially needed for this match, was nowhere to be found. Kylian was barely making any purposeful runs behind the defenders and was not available whenever the winger wanted to cross in the middle. 

Jude Bellingham only seems to be the right man who was doing his job; he was performing like a top Real Madrid player 

There have been many reports of Xabi falling out with players, which seems to be the main concern right now, but how does a player who had won everything with Real Madrid and has coached teams like Bayer Leverkusen and was on the verge of winning the treble ever get questioned? 

Clash and management of Egos 

What we think might be more into management than that of tactics, I mean, there are pretty big egos in the Real Madrid dressing room. With the likes of Mbappe and Bellingham to Vini, it required excellent man management, like we saw something from Zidane. 

As Gareth Bale famously puts it, ‘Sometimes it's about managing rather than just tactics’ 

So, is it just the management problem under Xabi Alonso? 

What we can say is that after the bust-up with Vini, there seems to be something of odd behaviour from the players in the field, like we saw against Rayo Valladolid, players were seeing complaining about the lack of attackers in the box, the main complaints came from players like Mbappe, Vini, that no much players were there in the final moments of attack. 

Real Madrid has had a very poor record in away games; the games were so poor that only some individual performances could make the team win the game. 

The Attack has not been figured out, the midfield is not solid and confirmed yet, and the defense is in shambles or (hospitals)

There is also wide speculation growing with Endrick, who was one of the greatest prospects in world football last year. His move to Madrid has not been the happiest. 

Even with Xabi Alonso, the forward does not look like he will get any minutes under the Spaniard. Many reports claim that the Brazilian is keen on joining a French side in the winter transfer of 2026. 

Now, we talk about this because players like Endrik and Alvaro are genuine threats in the box. We have seen Endrik being a super substitute before, but the coach is not keen on playing those; this sends a signal to players. 

So now all of a sudden Madrid has to clear up things that it did not even know existed 

The clash of egos did not exist in Real after big names left, because there were no players whose egos clashed, but now, after winning two Champions League and league titles, there have been growing egos in the dressing room. 

Xabi does not seem like a manager who can manage ego; he comes from a coaching background of Castilla and Leverkusen, where players did not have that huge of an ego. 

It will be interesting thing to watch how Xabi manages the dressing room for the rest of the season.