Mbappé's brace narrowly secures advancement, but Alonso suffers defeat; the second-to-last team in the Spanish third division nearly holds Real Madrid to a draw.

As Real Madrid plays more matches, Alonso’s position as coach becomes increasingly precarious. In the Copa del Rey round of 32, Real Madrid narrowly defeated Talavera, who sit second to last in the Spanish third tier, by 3-2, advancing smoothly to the round of 16! After the match, Talavera’s coach Sandroni stated in an interview: We almost managed to draw with Real Madrid, and I sincerely hope to experience matches like this every week.

In this game, Mbappé was directly involved in three goals, scoring twice and causing an own goal, just one goal short of Real Madrid’s highest annual scoring record. In 2025, Mbappé has already scored 58 goals for Real Madrid, only one behind the club’s all-time single-year record held by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2013 (59 goals). Under Alonso’s tactics this season, Mbappé has been very successful, scoring abundantly, but Real Madrid lacks a second or third scoring threat beyond him. Now, with Alonso barely scraping a win against the second-to-last team in Spain’s third division, it clearly shows his insufficient coaching ability; his lineup choices and tactics are not well suited for the current Real Madrid squad. Allowing a 3-2 scoreline against Talavera makes Alonso’s coaching position even more unstable.

Looking at the match statistics, Spain’s top club Real Madrid was bombarded with 16 shots by the second-to-last team in the Spanish third division, with 5 on target. This clearly indicates that Alonso’s management of Real Madrid has gone off track. If this style of play continues without change, Real Madrid under Alonso is very likely to end the season empty-handed in all four major competitions, meaning Alonso’s dismissal could come after just one more defeat.