Mbappé's ugly gesture that condemned Xabi Alonso in the Super Cup

The refusal of the Real Madrid players to form a guard of honor for the FC Barcelona squad during the 2026 Spanish Super Cup awards ceremony was one of the viral images from the final played in Jeddah (3-2). Although the Barça players did show the gesture to their rivals, there was no reciprocation from the 'merengues'.

The ugly gesture, finally, ratified an open secret: the rift between the locker room and their now former coach. Xabi Alonso called on his players to form a guard of honor for Barça before the medal ceremony and trophy presentation. However, Kylian Mbappé was the first to contradict the man from Tolosa, urging his teammates to go to the locker rooms.

Florentino's Patience Wears Thin with Xabi Alonso

Finally, the Madrid footballers heeded 'Kiki' and Xabi, resigned, opted to leave things as they were. All this under the watchful eye of Florentino Pérez, who was waiting on the podium for the Barça champions alongside Joan Laporta and the authorities from Arabia and the RFEF.

Xabi Alonso ordenando al equipo que vengan hacer el pasillo de honor y Mbappe diciéndole que el pasillo lo va hacer su madre.

Y a quien hacen caso? A Mbappé sin dudar, de esta falta de respeto a la autoridad no te hablaran como lo hicieron con el cambio de Vinicius. pic.twitter.com/dKSzfQuqKu

— FeyValentine (@valentine_fey) January 12, 2026

Xabi Alonso ordering the team to come and form a guard of honor and Mbappe telling him his mother will form the guard of honor. And who do they listen to? Mbappe without hesitation, they won't talk about this lack of respect for authority like they did about Vinicius's change. 

On Monday afternoon, Florentino met with the coach to announce his dismissal, a decision the club claims was "by mutual agreement," although the Basque coach had reaffirmed in the post-Clásico press conference his intention to stay.

The ultimatum, however, was clear since the Champions League defeat against Manchester City (1-2) on December 10th. Another slip-up in the League or Cup would have seen Alonso out before the end of the year, but the team won its last three matches of 2025

Then came the thrashing against Betis (5-1), but the Super Cup did not change the outlook: losing to Atlético in the 'semis' or the final against Barça was synonymous with the end of an era for the man from Tolosa, who barely lasted just over six months and 34 games on the white bench.

His numbers were not bad (24 wins, 4 draws, and 6 losses). In fact, they mirror what Hansi Flick achieved in his first season at Barcelona. Nevertheless, the team's collective performance and the poor image shown on the field since mid-November undermined confidence in the Spanish coach, contrasting with Barça's full confidence in Flick after the slump at the end of 2024.

The Super Cup and Mbappé sealed Xabi's future in Madrid

Xabi arrived in Madrid with clear ideas after a successful spell at Bayer Leverkusen, but he found a poorly assembled squad, hit by injuries and dominated by the egos of the 'heavyweights'. Without the authority to impose his playing style, the board left the 44-year-old coach at the mercy of the results

Madrid finished the first half of LaLiga 4 points behind Barça, after squandering a 5-point lead in the first 11 matchdays. Furthermore, they let slip the first title of the season in another final (third consecutive) against the Blaugrana team

Against 'top' rivals, they only won by the narrowest of margins against a depleted Barcelona in October (2-1) and an Atlético that dominated almost the entire Super Cup semi-final (1-2) and had already handed them a 'manita' (5-2) in the league. PSG (4-0) and Liverpool (1-0) defeated the Whites with relative ease last year.

Mbappé's ugly gesture in Arabia was the icing on the cake for a cycle that promised much and ended in nothing halfway through a season that, for the second consecutive year, looks like a nadaplete in the capital. Now, everything is in the hands of **Álvaro Arbeloa**, who until Monday was the coach of Castilla.