 "Vinicius Jr was livid after Xabi Alonso substituted him in the El Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona. Image: Reuters")
Xabi Alonso made a flying start to life as a Real Madrid manager in El Clásico as Los Blancos defeated Barcelona 2-1 at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday to go five points clear at the top of La Liga. The goal for Real Madrid came from Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe, while Fermin Lopez scored the only goal for Barcelona and Pedri received a red card in the dying minutes of the match.
The highlight of the match was Alonso’s tactics that deflated Barcelona in the high-octane clash, but also Vinicius Jr’s reaction after he was substituted in the 72nd minute.
The 25-year-old Brazilian winger is a favourite at the Bernabeu and fans chanted his name multiple times during the El Clásico, but his outrageous reaction at being substituted by Alonso is the latest hint that all is not well between Real Madrid and Vinicius Jr.
Vinicius Jr outburst at Alonso exposes fractured relationship
The 2024 The Best FIFA Men’s Player award winner, Vinicius Jr, will have just one year left on his contract when the ongoing season ends and the negotiations between Real Madrid and the player for a new contract have been stalled for a while.
Reports in Spain suggest that Real Madrid are willing to sell Vinicius if a good offer is made for the charismatic footballer. But not many clubs would be able to afford him at the moment.
Nonetheless, he clearly feels unhappy at the club now and when Alonso subbed him off on Sunday, Vinicius was seen ranting as he walked past Alonso and stormed down the tunnel. He returned to the dugout a few minutes later, but never looked happy, also trying to confront Lamine Yamal after the final whistle.
“This season he’s felt that the club isn’t protecting him. There are stories out there, possible leaked by the club, or with the club not denying it, that they wouldn’t be unhappy if someone paid 250m euros (£218m) for him and let him go,” Spanish football expert Guillem Balague told BBC, explaining the fractured relationship between Vinicius and Real Madrid.
“He feels all that, and when Alonso subbed him - fairly, because Vinicius stopped dropping back as he should - in Vinicius’ head he says, ‘why me, why me again?’.
“It will be difficult to build a bridge between the club and Vinicius at the moment.”
Alonso beats Barcelona with tactical masterclass
While Alonso has a big issue at his hand, he would be happy with how his system worked against Barcelona and how his players performed. Amazingly, seven out of Real Madrid’s previous eight managers had lost their first La Liga match against Barcelona.
Alonso has adopted a positional game-model at Real Madrid and the tactics seem to be working well for Madrid. The way he is using Bellingham also seems to be different.
Under Carlo Ancelotti, the 22-year-old English midfielder was required to attack, defend and cover every inch of the pitch. Alonso has given more freedom to Bellingham, asking him to play from the right, but also allowing him to cut inside and link-up with Mbappe.
“He got it spot on. Real Madrid were very good, and Barcelona didn’t play well because of what Real Madrid were doing,” Balague said.
“Without the ball they pressed high for as long as they could, and if they were beaten, they tracked back in an organised way, everybody including Vinicius.
“They defended in two lines separated by five to 10 metres. Barcelona could not find a way through.”