- Real Madrid’s Season of Goals, Chaos and No Trophies
Real Madrid’s 2025-26 season ended as one of the club’s most unsettled campaigns in recent memory, with the Spanish giants finishing without a major trophy despite Kylian Mbappe’s prolific individual form and repeated flashes of elite-level football.
A season that began with optimism at the Santiago Bernabéu closed with managerial upheaval, dressing-room tension, missed opportunities and renewed questions about the club’s direction.
Madrid failed to win La Liga, the Copa del Rey or the UEFA Champions League for a second consecutive season, finishing second in the league behind Barcelona and exiting both domestic and European competitions in disappointing fashion.
The campaign also saw Xabi Alonso dismissed in January, with club legend Alvaro Arbeloa appointed as interim manager in an attempt to stabilise a squad increasingly defined by inconsistency and internal strain.
Madrid had started the league season strongly, winning six consecutive matches and briefly suggesting that Alonso’s project could deliver immediate results. But a humiliating 5-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid in September exposed early structural and psychological weaknesses within the team.
Although Madrid recovered with several strong performances, the momentum did not last. A damaging defeat to Celta Vigo in December intensified pressure on Alonso and proved decisive in the club’s decision to part ways with the former midfielder.
Arbeloa’s appointment initially brought a response. Madrid embarked on an eight-match winning run in La Liga between December and February, briefly restoring belief that the club could still challenge Barcelona for the title.
But the revival faded at a critical stage. Costly defeats against Osasuna, Getafe and Mallorca, combined with dropped points against Girona and Real Betis, allowed Barcelona to take control of the title race. The championship was eventually sealed by Barcelona with a decisive El Clasico victory in May.
Madrid’s domestic cup campaign offered little relief. The club suffered a shock 3-2 defeat to second-tier Albacete in the Copa del Rey Round of 16, a result that deepened scrutiny of the squad’s mentality and depth.
They also lost to Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final, adding another painful defeat to their list of setbacks against their fiercest rivals.
In Europe, Madrid produced moments that briefly reminded supporters of the club’s Champions League pedigree. They eliminated Benfica in the knockout playoffs before delivering one of their best performances of the season against Manchester City, winning 5-1 on aggregate in the Round of 16.
A dramatic 2-1 victory at the Etihad Stadium, sealed by a late Vinicius Junior winner, stood out as the high point of Madrid’s campaign.
But the European revival ended in the quarter-finals, where Bayern Munich defeated Madrid 6-4 on aggregate, closing the club’s last realistic route to silverware.
Off the pitch, the season was increasingly dominated by reports of dressing-room unrest. Strained relationships involving Mbappe became a recurring theme, raising concerns over the level of unity within the squad.
The most serious flashpoint reportedly came before a crucial El Clasico, when Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni were involved in a heated altercation that left Valverde requiring hospital treatment for a traumatic brain injury. Both players were later fined heavily by the club.
Mbappe was also involved in a public disagreement with Arbeloa following a late-season victory over Real Oviedo, further reinforcing the sense of a dressing room under pressure.
Yet, amid the instability, Mbappe’s individual output was outstanding. The French forward finished as Madrid’s top scorer with 42 goals in all competitions, including 25 in La Liga and 15 in the Champions League.
His numbers comfortably outpaced Vinicius Junior, who scored 22 goals, and underlined why Madrid still view him as the central figure around whom the next phase of the team must be built.
Valverde also remained one of the club’s most consistent performers on the pitch, although his campaign was overshadowed by his reported involvement in the dressing-room controversy.
Arbeloa’s interim spell produced mixed results. He recorded 18 wins, two draws and eight defeats in 28 matches, earning praise for navigating a difficult situation but failing to convince many that he was the long-term answer.
His strained relationships with several senior players also weakened the case for a permanent appointment.
Attention has now turned to the next rebuild, with reports suggesting that Jose Mourinho is close to making a dramatic return to the Bernabéu. The Portuguese coach would inherit a squad rich in talent but short on cohesion, discipline and competitive certainty.
Madrid have already moved in the transfer market, bringing in Dean Huijsen from Bournemouth, Trent Alexander-Arnold from Liverpool, Franco Mastantuono from River Plate and Alvaro Carreras from Benfica.
Those arrivals point to a club preparing for another cycle of renewal. But personnel alone will not solve Madrid’s deeper problem.
The next manager must restore authority in the dressing room, rebuild trust among senior players, define the tactical hierarchy around Mbappe and Vinicius, and return the club to the relentless competitive standard expected at the Bernabéu.
For Real Madrid, the 2025-26 season was not a failure of talent. It was a failure of balance, leadership and control.
Mbappe delivered the goals. The club, however, could not deliver the structure around him.
That is why Madrid’s summer rebuild will be about more than new signings. It will be about restoring order to a club that spent the season looking powerful on paper, but fractured when it mattered most.
