Real Madrid’s downward spiral into infighting, disarray, no trophiesplayLaurens: How long could it take for Real Madrid to become serious again? (2:17)Julien Laurens and Don Hutchison discuss what needs to happen at Real Madrid for them to get back to their trophy-winning ways. (2:17)Alex Kirkland and RodraMultiple AuthorsMay 12, 2026, 05:00 AM ET
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As Real Madrid trudged off the Camp Nou pitch on Sunday, Barcelona’s newly crowned LaLiga champions celebrated behind them. By the time blue-and-red fireworks lit up the sky over the stadium and Barça’s players lifted the trophy before a long night of partying, Madrid were already heading home.
It was a night, and a season, to forget for Real Madrid.
A 2-0 victory in the Clásico did not reflect Barcelona’s dominance; the 14-point gap in the table tells a fuller story. With three games remaining, the end-of-season panorama could get even uglier for Los Blancos. Barça have 91 points and a 100-point total — achieved just twice in history, by Madrid in 2011-12 and Barça the following season — is within reach. There is also the potential for a record-breaking gap between the sides, eclipsing the 15-point margin by Barça in 2013.
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The bleakness of the outlook makes it easy to forget that just under two years ago, on June 1, 2024, Madrid were lifting the UEFA Champions League trophy at Wembley — their second in three seasons — having already wrapped up LaLiga. Since then, it has been two seasons without a major trophy, for the first time since 2006.
So how did Madrid fall so far, so fast? It’s not necessarily a question of personnel. Nine of the 11 players who started that Champions League final in London remain at the club. But a string of strategic mistakes in recruitment and management — from executive level to the dressing room — have sent Madrid into a dramatic spiral.
Real Madrid have a team packed full of stars and top players, but the club have gone two seasons without winning a major trophy for the first time in two decades. Jean Catuffe/Getty ImagesThe Mbappé effectThe signing of Kylian Mbappé on a free transfer from PSG in 2024 looked like a no-brainer, adding one of the world’s most lethal goal scorers to a successful team.
However, some club sources now question whether adding Mbappé was the right move, at a time when Vinícius Junior was established as the team’s top star and a Ballon d’Or contender. They characterize the Mbappé signing as a personal project of the club president, Florentino Pérez, rather than addressing the team’s needs.
On paper, Mbappé has delivered in terms of individual numbers — with 31 LaLiga goals last season and 24 so far this season — but it’s increasingly obvious that his arrival has unbalanced the side and the dressing room, with three managers in a row — Carlo Ancelotti, Xabi Alonso and now Álvaro Arbeloa — struggling to create a functioning team structure that can incorporate Mbappé, Vinícius and Jude Bellingham, in particular against elite opposition.
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Last season, Madrid lost four Clásicos to Barcelona. In 2025-26, they managed a 2-1 win over their biggest rivals in October, but they also suffered heavy defeats, such as September’s 5-2 loss at Atlético Madrid, with a total of six losses in LaLiga, including Sunday’s climactic showdown at Camp Nou.
In Europe, Mbappé has played 25 Champions League games for Real Madrid; the club have lost 10 of them, including knockout-phase eliminations to Arsenal and Bayern Munich.
This year, persistent injuries have limited Mbappé’s participation, and he has missed crucial games against Manchester City, Benfica, and most recently, the Clásico.
For the first time, the forward’s attitude and commitment are being called into doubt. Last week’s holiday with his partner while recovering from injury — arriving back in Madrid minutes before his teammates were due to face Espanyol — was a PR disaster, although it was dismissed by his camp as “an overinterpretation of elements related to a recovery period strictly supervised by the club.”
In his absence for Sunday’s game at Camp Nou, his support for the team was limited to a message of “Hala Madrid” on Instagram, posted with the score already 2-0 in Barcelona’s favor.
As a consequence, Mbappé will go into next season under unprecedented pressure and a new kind of scrutiny. He is being questioned like never before, and needs to deliver on an individual and collective level to justify his place at the heart of this Real Madrid project.
Real Madrid beat Barcelona in the first Clásico of the season, but that match proved to be the turning point in the LaLiga title race. ESPN Global Soccer ResearchAlonso bested by player powerFormer Bayer Leverkusen boss Alonso arrived as Madrid head coach last summer with a mandate to fix the problems of the laissez-faire Ancelotti era, rein in the dressing room and introduce a more rigorous, team-oriented style of play. But his tenure lasted just 233 days.Sources close to the coach and squad told ESPN that Alonso was quickly undermined by internal doubts about him and his management. His appointment was championed by director general José Ángel Sánchez, but others felt he had the wrong kind of profile for Madrid: He was too much of a coach and not enough of a figurehead.Those doubts started with president Pérez, and later extended to key members of the team. Sources told ESPN at the time that Vinícius, Federico Valverde and Bellingham were three senior players who were unconvinced.
There was little doubt about which side Alonso backed in the Vinícius vs. Mbappé debate. He first planned to bench the Brazilian during last summer’s Club World Cup, and then did so several times with the season underway. The extent of Vinícius’ discontent was laid bare by his reaction to being substituted in October’s Clásico at the Bernabéu, vocally disputing Alonso’s decision on a global stage.
In the days that followed, Alonso did not receive the club’s support. Instead, his judgment was questioned. It was a blow to his authority from which it proved impossible to recover. Other important members of the team backed Alonso and his methods, and the fault lines in the squad continue to this day.
The team’s form under Alonso did not bounce back, and he was fired in January.
1:00
Moreno: It’s anarchy at Real Madrid with Valverde and Tchouameni
Alejandro Moreno questions the disciplinary proceedings of an alleged altercation, between Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni.
Arbeloa wins and loses the dressing room
Alonso’s replacement, Arbeloa, arrived on Jan. 13 with a remit to unify the dressing room, get key players such as Vinícius on side and maximize the talent that the club felt was still evident in the squad.
In public, Arbeloa’s praise for his players was absolute and frequently over the top. Vinícius “embodies what a Real Madrid player is,” Arbeloa reported; Valverde had “the spirit of [Madrid legend] Juanito;” Antonio Rüdiger deserved “a statue in my garden.”
At first, it worked; Madrid’s form improved as Arbeloa won 17 of his first 21 games in charge, including victories over teams coached by managers with the longest CVs in football: Benfica’s José Mourinho, Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola and Atlético Madrid’s Diego Simeone. Meanwhile, Vinícius found his career-best form, scoring crucial goals against City and Atlético, and embracing Arbeloa on the touchline.
Then, in the season’s decisive phase, the limitations of Arbeloa’s player-focused, vibes-first management were exposed.
In LaLiga, as Madrid dropped points against Mallorca, Girona and Real Betis, the chances of winning the title looking increasingly remote. In the Champions League, Madrid were eliminated by Bayern Munich — admittedly after a valiant effort in a tie that ended 6-4 on aggregate. Arbeloa’s successful integration of academy players (such as Thiago Pitarch and Gonzalo García) was ditched, and some of the team’s familiar flaws, notably a failure to operate effectively out of possession, returned.
At the same time, in a pressure-cooker environment, the dressing room has been rocked by one behind-the-scenes scandal after another.
ESPN stated that Rüdiger was involved in a confrontation with a teammate, later confirmed to be defender Álvaro Carreras. Sources told ESPN that Arbeloa’s relationship with several players, including Dani Carvajal, Dani Ceballos and Raúl Asencio, had suffered, and that there had also been flashpoints involving Mbappé and Arbeloa’s staff.
And then, in the week leading up to the title-deciding Clásico, it emerged that Valverde would miss the trip to Barcelona with a head injury following an altercation with teammate, Aurélien Tchouaméni. Real Madrid imposed fines of €500,000 on each player.
The training-ground altercation between Real Madrid teammates Aurélien Tchouaméni and Federico Valverde was the biggest story in the buildup to Sunday’s Clásico. David Ramos/Getty ImagesRecent training sessions have been focused almost entirely on trying to maintain a positive atmosphere, sources reported. But even in that, they have been unsuccessful.Arbeloa’s public statements regarding the team — and his diagnosis of its problems — have also undergone a subtle-but-important shift in recent weeks, implicitly questioning the players’ attitude as results have deteriorated.”As I’ve reported many, many times, we need to take a step forward collectively,” he reported postmatch at Camp Nou.”We need a much clearer idea of what we want to do, and to put the collective ahead of the individual. We need a clear idea. That’s the starting point. We’ve dropped many points against teams where we shouldn’t have.”Trouble at the topOff the pitch, Madrid and 79-year-old president Pérez have faced exhausting battles in recent years with the sport’s institutions, with uncharacteristic setbacks in some of the club’s most high-profile projects.As recently as last November, Pérez was still insisting in an assembly of Madrid’s members that he was “more convinced than ever” of victory over UEFA in the Super League dispute. Three months later, Madrid released a statement saying an agreement had been reached with Europe’s governing body, with a consequent shelving of the club’s plans to seek substantial damages.
Closer to home, the €1 billion project to rebuild and revamp their Bernabéu stadium was hit by legal action over hosting concerts at the venue, after allegations that noise limits were breached. Such events are currently paused until an agreement can be reached with city officials.
Pérez’s stated aim of introducing a new ownership structure for the member-owned club, selling a percentage to an external investor, also appears to be on hold, with no sign of the extraordinary general meeting that the president had promised to debate the issue.
All this coincides with two years without a major trophy, and the club’s on-field management facing even greater scrutiny. When Pérez resigned at the end of his first spell as president in 2006 — before returning three years later — he admitted that the players in the Galáctico era had been spoiled.
Now, 20 years later and in a comparable sporting situation — an unbalanced team full of stars who can’t win — he faces a similar accusation of enabling player power, to the team’s detriment.
0:52
What’s next for Real Madrid after El Clásico loss?
Alex Kirkland examines how Real Madrid can improve next season after Barcelona wins another LaLiga title.
Is a revolution possible this summer?
A summer of significant decisions that will have a profound impact on Madrid’s direction — a new coach, player arrivals and departures, and whatever structural changes are deemed necessary — coincides with what some sources describe to ESPN as a power vacuum inside the club.
The Pérez era has been marked by a presidential approach but, given his age, that is increasingly challenging. In the meantime, sources say, others are jockeying for position.
Madrid’s managerial appointments over the past decade have tended to be governed by familiarity, from returns for Ancelotti and Zidane, to former players such as Alonso and Arbeloa. It’s no surprise, then, that another former coach is the leading candidate to take over now, in Mourinho.
The funds available for new signings are — by Madrid standards — limited, without first raising money for outgoings. The underwhelming impact of last summer’s recruits — Alexander-Arnold, Dean Huijsen, Carreras and Franco Mastantuono — leaves doubt over whether the players identified will actually strengthen the team. And then there are other, hard-to-resolve issues, such as Vinícius’ contract standoff (it expires in 2027).
The challenges for Madrid are substantial, and the consequences for getting these decisions wrong could be another unacceptable season. What happens next will determine if the events of the past week represent rock bottom, or if there’s further to fall.
