Alex Kirkland

Yeah, the big question is why now?

Because we knew that Xabi was under huge pressure.

He had been for months.

We knew there were doubts right at the top of the club, really, about him and had been for some time.

But the feeling was, and pretty much literally everyone thought so, that they came out of the Super Cup having done enough to keep Xabi in his job.

Yes, they lost the final to Barcelona, but they had managed to compete.

They lost 3-2.

It wasn't a repeat of the 5-2 loss in the Super Cup final last season, for example.

So, yeah, why now?

I think there are a number of factors.

One of them is that I think that

The way they played in that game against Barcelona yesterday didn't go down too well.

There was a feeling they were sort of overly defensive and conservative.

This is not a way that Real Madrid should play in a final, even if it was to a limited extent successful.

They lost the game, of course.

in the end.

There were flashpoints, sort of disagreements behind the scenes on certain issues, especially about the number of injuries, the fitness, the physical preparation of the team.

There's been some maneuverings there.

Antonio Pintus, the physical coach who'd been sort of sidelined under Xabi Alonso, having previously been a big part of Real Madrid's success, being brought back in and Xabi Alonso had been opposed to that.

Also, the feeling, I think, that things weren't