Real Madrid’s Champions League exit will bring big change at the Bernabeu

Real Madrid’s Champions League elimination by Bayern Munich will surely provoke another period of upheaval at the Spanish side, starting with Alvaro Arbeloa’s position as manager.

The 43-year-old was only appointed in January when replacing Xabi Alonso, but such is the nature of managing Madrid that defeat by Bayern after a chaotic second leg at the Allianz Arena means he will very likely be dismissed, although he may carry on in the role until the end of the season.

Wednesday night’s result — a 4-3 defeat on the night and a 6-4 loss on aggregate — means Madrid are almost certain to finish this term without a major trophy.

They were knocked out of the Copa del Rey by second-division Albacete in Arbeloa’s first game in charge, and defending champions Barcelona lead them by nine points in La Liga with seven matches to play — including a Camp Nou Clasico on May 10, when the Catalans could seal the title.

Madrid ended the 2024-25 campaign without a major title, too. The last time they went two seasons without such success was 16 years ago. Under long-serving president Florentino Perez, only one manager who ended a season without a major title has returned for the following campaign — Zinedine Zidane.

If Arbeloa is the next to move on, therefore, it should perhaps not come as a total surprise.

“Right now, I’m not thinking about any of that at all,” he said on Wednesday night, when asked whether he wanted to stay or go. “I’ll say it again: it’s the club’s decision and I’m a loyal supporter. All I want is for Real Madrid to win, regardless of who’s in charge.”

But there is something different about the situation around Madrid right now. Big change could well be on the cards at other key departments at the club, after an especially turbulent past few months — even by their standards.

So, who might replace Arbeloa? What’s behind this wider turmoil? And what can we expect to happen next? The Athletic’s Mario Cortegana explains.

The information contained in this article reflects multiple conversations with various sources at Madrid, all of whom wanted to speak anonymously to protect relationships.

How damaging is this Champions League exit?

Madrid are often described as the most ruthless and demanding club in football. Numerous coaches have found this out the hard way. One of the most famous examples is that of Vicente del Bosque, who was fired the day after winning the 2002-03 league title.

Carlo Ancelotti’s first spell as Madrid manager came to an end in May 2015, only 12 months after he delivered La Decima — the 10th European Cup they had been waiting over a decade to win. The Italian departed for a second time at the end of last season, having become the most decorated coach in Madrid history following success at the FIFA Intercontinental Cup in December 2024, his 15th title with the club.

Speaking at a press conference in the week following his appointment as Madrid manager in January, Arbeloa shared an anecdote from that 2014 Champions League victory under Ancelotti, when he was a Madrid player.

Arbeloa spoke of a moment he shared with Dani Carvajal on the team bus after their extra-time win against Atletico Madrid, when Carvajal said to him: “Let’s go for another one, shall we?”

It was an attempt to lift the mood following Alonso’s sacking by pointing towards the club’s mythology of never resting and always striving to achieve the next success.

Madrid are by far the most successful club in Champions League (or European Cup) history, with 15 titles to their name. Serie A club Milan are next on the list, with seven. This unrelenting desire to add more trophies to that list is, in part, what makes them such an attractive draw for some of the world’s best players, such as Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham.

But the rules of that mythology dictate that failure will not be taken lightly, and in the first instance, responsibility will fall to the manager and his coaching staff.

What does the result mean for Arbeloa’s future?

The general view around the club now is that he is likely to be fired, but that he will first see out the season.

The reasoning behind this is that it would make no sense to bring in a new manager now, with so little at stake, and that Arbeloa — a club man — has improved the atmosphere in the dressing room enough to help maintain a professional environment until May.

Arbeloa’s position as head coach has never been a strong one, despite his good work with the academy in previous roles and the fact that he is highly regarded by president Florentino Perez.

In the statement announcing his promotion from reserve team manager in January — his first job in senior management and one he only started this season — the club did not specify the length of his new contract. This has been followed by persistent rumours about potential replacements for next season, or sooner.

At the time, Madrid sources declined to comment on Arbeloa’s status, while those close to him said his contract ran until at least the end of next season. Since then, neither side has addressed the topic publicly.

Arbeloa’s good relationship with Madrid’s leadership — before starting work as a youth coach in 2020, he served in an ambassadorial role at various events — means he could stay on in a different position at the club if he wanted to. However, his clear preference is to continue in management, as he has big ambitions for his career.

As well as answering that question about staying or going in his post-match press conference on Wednesday, Arbeloa said: “I’m not at all worried about my future. Since I’ve been in this position, it hasn’t been the slightest concern. I feel I’ve done everything I could to try and help my players win every day.”

Who could replace him?

This has been a subject of speculation ever since Arbeloa was hired, with noise on the subject increasing around several spells of poor performances or results.

It is still not sufficiently clear who Madrid would most like to appoint as manager, if they decide to replace Arbeloa as expected. However, conversations with sources around the club suggest various candidates have been discussed and considered.

Jurgen Klopp has frequently been mentioned, despite the ex- Liverpool manager insisting publicly several times that he is happy in his role as Red Bull’s global head of soccer, a position he took up in January 2025.

The 58-year-old German is a highly regarded coach at the Santiago Bernabeu, but both he and his agent have publicly confirmed The Athletic’s reporting on the subject — that there has been no contact and that Klopp is not considering leaving Red Bull.

Perez highly appreciates Zinedine Zidane, who led Real Madrid to three consecutive Champions League titles between 2016-2018. However, sources close to the Frenchman have previously spoken about the possibility of replacing Didier Deschamps as France boss after the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico this summer.

Deschamps himself has also been mentioned as a possible Madrid candidate by one industry source. The 57-year-old has led France since 2012, and his latest contract runs out in July.

Last month, United States manager Mauricio Pochettino was in the Spanish capital and watched his old side Tottenham play at Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. He should be considered a stronger candidate, as he has always been highly regarded by Perez.

Pochettino’s contract with the U.S. expires after the World Cup, but at a news conference on April 1, he said he would be open to staying on after the tournament, and that no talks had been held with Madrid.

The coming weeks should bring more clarity. But potential changes to come at Madrid go beyond Arbeloa’s position as head coach.

Where do Madrid go from here?

The general feeling shared by several key voices within Real Madrid is that significant changes have been needed for some time now.

Behind two failed seasons lie many factors and shortcomings, such as the number of signings, the impact of those who have arrived, harmony within the dressing room and the number of injuries.

On the sporting front, both of Madrid’s two previous managers, Ancelotti and Alonso, believed that the squad was good, but that it lacked balance and more signings were needed.

Sources close to both coaches and their staff have also highlighted the challenges of maintaining harmony in a team featuring big-name players such as Mbappe, Vinicius Jr and Bellingham.

Speaking after Alonso was fired in January, sources close to Ancelotti’s former staff said they saw “no solution right now” to Madrid’s situation, and that the squad really needed a rebuild. In their opinion, one major star had to be sold, in order to bring in reinforcements at right-back, centre-back and the right wing — but above all in central midfield.

Following his sacking, sources close to Alonso said this Madrid team is “impossible to coach”. They argued that players at the club had too much power and had not always shown enough willingness to improve.

Sources both inside and outside the club believe that Madrid need to appoint a director of football. Doing so would mark a difference from the way the club is run currently, with general director Jose Angel Sanchez, chief scout Juni Calafat and Perez (who is the ultimate decision maker) responsible for recruitment.

Former Madrid player and manager Santiago Solari does have that title, but the Argentine has not had much power since taking up the role in 2022, and his influence has fallen further still of late.

Sources involved in the process and with close ties to Madrid have claimed that the club is considering the possibility of bringing in a new specialist to its sporting structure. However, well-placed figures within the club have denied this.

The same Madrid sources have also denied that there is an internal power struggle between two factions, one led by Sanchez and the other by the French-Moroccan Anas Laghrari, an external adviser and one of Perez’s most trusted confidants. Further sources add that Laghrari has no intention of taking over Sanchez’s position.

Still, there is a general feeling within the industry that changes at every level at Madrid cannot be ruled out.

A training ground source spoke last week of “confusion among the staff” because of “rumours that there are going to be a lot of changes”, potentially affecting the board, the coach, the medical team, the physios and the players.

Since 2023, Madrid have also been mired in a medical crisis, hit by a high number of injuries that arguably proved decisive in Ancelotti’s final season. Disagreements between coaching staff and the physical trainer Antonio Pintus, a figure in whom Perez has always placed the utmost trust, were common at the time.

When Alonso arrived from Bayer Leverkusen in May, he brought with him his own trusted fitness coach, Ismael Camenforte, and there was an agreement that Pintus would take a back seat.

Injuries continued to be a problem under Alonso, however, and Pintus returned to the forefront as soon as Alonso was sacked. A few days before he was fired, another significant change took place. Croatian doctor Niko Mihic, who had been sidelined in November 2023, again due to tensions over the number of injuries Madrid had suffered, was reinstated as head of medical services

In March, The Athletic reported that Madrid’s medical team misdiagnosed Mbappe’s knee injury after performing an MRI scan on the wrong leg back in December, an error that affected the Frenchman’s recovery process.

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