Vinicius Junior saves Xabi Alonso from Real Madrid sack

Xabi Alonso appears to have found an unlikely saviour at Real Madrid, with Vinicius Junior saving the head coach’s skin.

Ahead of the Champions League clash against Manchester City on Wednesday, the message was clear from the Spanish media: failure to win would mean Alonso would lose his job.

A 2-1 defeat later and the Spaniard – for now – finds himself still in charge at the Bernabeu, with the press looking at Vinicius Junior instead as their scapegoat for that loss.

It is, of course, an ironic turn of events. One of the chief reasons that Alonso finds himself under pressure in Madrid just six months after arriving at the club from Bayer Leverkusen is that his relationship with the Brazilian has been poor.

Vini Jr publicly questioned his new boss when he was substituted in El Clasico while behind the scenes made it clear that he will not sign a new contract with the club while Alonso is still in charge. It is pressure that president Florentino Perez appears ready to bow to.

And yet the 25-year-old winger now finds himself in the firing line after the midweek loss against City. It was a match that Madrid performed largely well in, yet Vini’s wasteful finishing was one of the major reasons they failed to take at least a point.

Despite pressure towards the end of the game, Alonso watched his side muster just a single shot on target against City. This came via Rodrygo ending his long goal drought by scoring his first goal under his new boss.

Otherwise, Real Madrid had 15 shots, one of which hit the woodwork, eight of which were blocked and seven of which failed to hit the target.

It was a night, as AS declared, that the squad showed they are with Alonso.