Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Coming up on today's show, Barcelona crown Spanish Super Cup champions after a thrilling El Clasico match against Real Madrid. Back in Spain, Villarreal picked up an important three points to keep the pressure on at the top of La Liga with a comfortable win against Alaves. Espanyol, however, couldn't capitalise as they were held to a draw against relegation-threatened Levante.
Stay tuned for all the action. Hello and welcome to the Rest is Football La Liga episode with Alex Aljo and me, Gary Lineker.
Chapter 2: What led to Xabi Alonso's sacking from Real Madrid?
Well, Alex, we've been thrown a curveball here because we actually, we're now recording this on... Monday evening, and the news has broken that Xabi Alonso has parted company with Real Madrid, the club have issued a statement. I'll read that in a minute.
So we actually recorded most of the podcast this morning, but I know you're on a night out, Alex, but you were good enough to jump on for five minutes to discuss this. the situation because obviously the club was completely inconsiderate towards our podcast. And so it would have been slightly dated if it had gone out as it currently is.
So what we'll do, we'll talk about the Alonso situation now, and then we'll hand over to the rest of the podcast where we discussed obviously the Super Cup game in which Real Madrid lost to Barcelona by three goals to two and subsequently, um, few La Liga matches that took place this weekend. But, um, Obviously, it's been muted for some time. He was under pressure.
Then he lost this particular Classico, although it was in style. I thought it was a cracking game of football. Are you surprised?
Yeah, really, really surprised. Massive shock. I've heard most of the Real Madrid fan base in shock as well. Nobody saw this coming. I was saying on the podcast earlier that They played well. There were loads of positives to take from the game. It's not like they got thrashed by Barcelona. Had they been thrashed by Barcelona, I would have said, of course, yes, it's the end of Xabi Alonso.
That would have been the front page of marker and ass this morning. But it wasn't. It was a good performance and it seems like they're building something good there. So, yes, a huge shock. I have been speaking to people in Madrid that know more than I do right now. And they were saying the issue was the respect wasn't there. So, actually... Respect from who to who?
The players towards Xabi Alonso. Oh, wow. As a manager, because obviously we've spoken about how good he was as a player and how all the players, I'm sure, have a huge amount of respect for him in that sense. But I've heard that during this trip to Jeddah, the players weren't taking things overly seriously and then walking out of video sessions and not wanting to listen to Xabi Alonso and...
And anything he had to say, which is obviously the beginning of the end when your players aren't listening to the manager.
If you lose the dressing room.
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Chapter 3: How did the Super Cup match between Barcelona and Real Madrid unfold?
And it's a big job. It takes time. I suppose you've got massive egos in that dressing room.
And if they are...
Yeah, very different. Very different club. He'll know that though. He knows him and he was part of Real Madrid. He's one of the players, a terrific footballer at Real Madrid for years.
Although he's not one of those players. He never was one of those players with a massive ego. I remember he played there when I worked there back in the day and he was one of the nicest, you know.
That's good to know. It doesn't surprise me. It always comes over as a real gent. I think personally, it's premature. Obviously, we don't know everything. And if the players are causing trouble, if you lose the dressing, you're in trouble. We all know that. And one man really decides that and he doesn't tend to be particularly faithful, the president, Francino Perez.
He's brutal.
Yeah, exactly. And they're ruthless. It's a ruthless football club. It seems a strange timing though.
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Chapter 4: What were the standout performances in the Super Cup final?
I think that, you know, they've still got lots to play for this season. I suppose it's just until the end of the season at the moment. Is he going to be better than Xabi Alonso? He's not been doing particularly brilliantly with Castilla. So I'm not overly surprised. I'm disappointed.
I'm disappointed because I really like him and I loved what he did at Leverkusen and that first season achievement was extraordinary. He needed time.
He needed time. Just look at Mikel Arteta as an example, a young manager of that Arsenal team and he needed time and
Chapter 5: What does Hansi Flick's success mean for Barcelona's future?
I know we all joked about the trust the process, trust the process, but actually sometimes you just need to trust the process a little bit, but Real Madrid aren't very good at doing that. That'll be a job for Xabi and I wish him all the best. I wish him success because he's a good guy and I think a top manager as well.
Yeah, I agree. I think he'll get another very good job. It's... It's very difficult football club to coach at because obviously it's a club, you know, they buy superstars. That's what they do. And then it's up to you to sort them out. They don't necessarily go, right, who do you want? How do we fit into your system of play?
My pad, he had no say. That's what I've been told.
That's amazing. You've got no say, right? This is what you're going to get. You've got no say, but as soon as it goes wrong, you're the one that gets the sack. And that's for me. And that's the way the game's going. And it's not just Real Madrid either. I think, let's be fair, there's lots of clubs like that. We've seen it here in the Premier League in recent weeks, haven't we?
you know, the suits are taking over the game. And is that, I'm not sure that's necessarily a good thing. I think they've always been this way at Real Madrid. Considering the way they do go about things, it's remarkable how successful they've been. But generally, if you can just go and buy the world superstars, it's, yeah. So it baffles me a little bit. I'm not overly surprised, but I think,
I mean, they lost to Barcelona, obviously, in the Super Cup, but they also beat Barcelona this season.
Yeah, they did.
And if you go back to last season, they were spanked by Barca.
Easily. You know, there were a couple of really good chances at the end there and things could be very different. You know, had they lifted that trophy last night, I don't know. Xabi Alonso will probably still be in the job.
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Chapter 6: Can Villarreal mount a title challenge in La Liga?
Although it didn't work last season.
No. It worked.
It does work for a time.
It's not an easy job. It's really one of the toughest jobs.
It's really. All right, Alex, I'll let you go on your night out now.
I'm not blaming Javi. Florentino.
Yes. So inconsiderate. So inconsiderate. Never, never didn't bear us in mind at all. But the rest of the pod where we talk about the game will be with you. Well, right now, the Spanish Super Cup has been taking place in Saudi Arabia and Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona took part. We ended up with a Classico final between the two big dogs.
And well, it didn't disappoint. That's for sure. So we'll spend the first half of the show, which I imagine will be a bit more than a half. because there's lots to discuss on the Super Cup. And in the second half, we'll see what happened in one or two of the fixtures in La Liga. But before that, Alex, where are you? I don't recognise that background.
I'm in Manchester. I was covering the FA Cup this weekend.
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Chapter 7: What impact does the managerial change have on Real Madrid's season?
So it was, I thought the same. It was a strange thing to take him off. at that point. Unless, of course, there was a reason. Unless, you know, you never know. There's a few knocks or so. But, you know, this is a big game. Well, it doesn't work because you'll be judged ultimately by what happens after you make those decisions and
Speaking of strange Xabi Alonso decisions, I was actually really surprised at the way Real Madrid set up to begin with. It was so, so defensive, which is not what the Madridistas want to see. They sat back and I was just, I was really surprised by that and they let Barcelona take it to them, which they did. But in a massive game, a big final, this is Real Madrid. Why are they doing that?
I'm sure the Madridistas weren't overly happy.
I imagine it was part of a game plan where he thought that if we counterattack against Barcelona's high line, because if they press right up, I would think if he just thinks if we defend properly, hit them on the counterattack, then it will give them a better chance of victory. So I think that was a tactical ploy. Mm-hmm. Obviously, it didn't pay off because they didn't win.
But I think that was half how they played the first time when they had a bit more success against Barcelona. So, yeah, I think that would have been a tactical ploy. If it doesn't work and you lose the game, then it's a double negative in a way. Because people will then go, well, Real Madrid, that's not how Real Madrid play football. We don't play counter-attack football.
But I understand it from a tactical perspective of what he was trying to achieve. But Barcelona are a hard team to defend against, even if you sit in a relatively low block. I mean, they've got so much talent. And I mean, I love the way Barcelona play. At times, it seems crazy the way they do it without pressure on the ball. But I hope he continues to have success playing this way, Hansi Flick.
What's that, eight finals he's now been in and he's won them all?
Incredible records. At Bayern and Barcelona, eight out of eight. That's unbelievable, isn't it?
I'll give you an even better stat that obviously was put on the group chat this morning, so you would have seen it. Barcelona have scored 256 goals under Hansi Flick in just 88 games. 2.99 goals per game. I reckon that is almost three a game.
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