The Athletic produces a weekly show called “Inside Real Madrid”. Each week, the Athletic brings you key information and analyses on the biggest topics, cutting through all the noise of everything Madridista.
The information contained in this article reflects multiple conversations with various sources at Madrid, all of whom wanted to speak anonymously to protect relationships.What’s the biggest talking point at Real Madrid right now?The team’s performance continues to be a concern at all levels at the club. On Wednesday, Madrid achieved a hard-fought victory against Olympiacos in the Champions League, but the display left a bad impression.Sunday night’s 1-1 draw at Girona saw them lose their La Liga lead to rivals Barcelona, who they now trail by a point. Xabi Alonso’s side have drawn three consecutive league matches, following a 0-0 away to Rayo Vallecano and a 2-2 at Elche. The last time they won in the competition, it was on November 1 at home against Valencia. They have now played three consecutive matches away from home after the NFL match that took place at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on November 16.
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Highlights from the LALIGA game between Girona vs Real Madrid.
“It’s a long season and we have to keep going,” Alonso said this in a serious tone at his post match press conference yesterday. “We were close to turning it around. We have to continue with the unity we have, with fair and necessary self-criticism.”
Madrid’s single goal was scored by Kylian Mbappe from the penalty spot, with the Frenchman now accounting for 23 of Madrid’s 41 goals in all competitions so far this season.How is the mood in the dressing room?There is a certain division of opinion in the dressing room, although this has not had a significant impact on the relationship between the players at this point. At the end of October, with the team top of the table, The Athletic revealed that Alonso’s personal approach and some of his footballing concepts had not gone down well with a significant number of the first team.Last week, there were reports in the Spanish media of meetings between Alonso and the players to reconcile differences. …
2025-12-02 08:54:00
