The former Real Madrid midfielder has faced Atletico Madrid before, as player and as a coach, but this is the first derby he’ll oversee from the dugout.
Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid have hit the ground running this season, as they currently top the La Liga table and they’ve won their first Champions League game of the campaign too. The Spanish tactician returned to Los Blancos following Carlo Ancelotti’s departure earlier in the summer and he is now preparing for his first big derby game.
Atletico Madrid will host their cross-city rivals in a much-anticipated Madrid derby, that is set to take place at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano on Saturday. This may be Xabi Alonso’s first-ever derby as a coach, but the 43-year-old has faced Los Rojiblancos various times in the past.
A solid record vs Atletico Madrid as a player
The first time Alonso went up against Atletico Madrid was back in 2000. Having joined Real Sociedad’s academy a year before, the prodigious midfielder was loaned out to SD Eibar in order to gain important experience in Spanish football’s second tier. There, he would face a newly-relegated Atletico Madrid, with the Basque side securing a 1-1 draw on the road.
Alonso then returned to Real Sociedad, with Los Rojiblancos making their top-flight comeback two years later, setting up more duels between the current Real Madrid coach and Atleti. The Basque coach would lead the Txuri-Urdin to three wins in four games against Atletico Madrid before departing to Liverpool, where he became a club legend. The 2008/09 Champions League group stage draw would see the Reds end up in the same group as Los Colchoneros, with both games ending in 1-1.
Alonso returned to Spain by joining Real Madrid in 2009, when he would feature in his first-ever Madrid derby – a 3-2 league victory at the Estadio Vicente Calderon. Interestingly, the former deep-lying midfielder has never suffered a defeat in a La Liga derby against Atleti. He has participated in nine league duels against Atletico Madrid, with Real Madrid coming out victorious on eight occasions.
The same can’t be said regarding his spell at Bayern Munich, who lost twice in three games against Atletico Madrid with Xabi Alonso on the pitch. In total, as a player Alonso faced Atleti 26 times, registering 16 wins, five draws and five losses across all competitions.
Yet to beat Simeone as a coach
Following a successful career as a player, Alonso decided to take his first coaching steps at the Real Madrid academy. A move to Real Sociedad B was followed by an experience of coaching abroad, joining Bayer Leverkusen in October 2022. Alonso wouldn’t have to wait long for yet another encounter with Atletico Madrid , with the German side facing Los Rojiblancos in what was only his fifth game in charge of Bayer Leverkusen.
Ahead of the duel, Alonso was full of praise for his counterpart Diego Simeone, with whom he will lock horns again this Saturday. “Simeone inspires me with his authenticity and ability to communicate with the team,” he said at that pre-game press conference. “He’s one of the best at that, at knowing how to get players to understand what he wants. There are a thousand footballing concepts out there, but when it comes to managing players, he’s way ahead of the game. He’s very good.”
🇦🇷🇮🇹 Diego Simeone: “Ruggeri and Raspadori? I expect much more from them. With Raspadori, we’re going to get the best out of him. Matteo as well, he came on well the other day, and we’ll demand a lot from them.” pic.twitter.com/gkEFPF0i77
— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) September 26, 2025
The game ended in a 2-2 draw, but the two sides were destined to meet again in last season’s League Phase. Bayer Leverkusen defender Piero Hincapie opened the scoring just before the break, but Julian Alvarez netted a second-half brace to turn the game around and earn Los Rojiblancos a 2-1 victory.
Having recorded one loss and a draw in two matches against Atletico Madrid, it now remains to be seen whether Alonso will manage to celebrate his first-ever victory over Atleti as a coach in this weekend’s derby.
Available to watch in the UK on Premier Sports and Disney+, a refreshed group of LALIGA pundits will lead the coverage, including familiar names to UK audiences in Graham Hunter, Gaizka Mendieta and Phil Kitromilides.
