BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Two wins in eight matches.
That is the record for Real Madrid over the past five weeks and why Xabi Alonso is under immense pressure in a rocky first season in charge of his former club.
Alonso looked to be off to a good start with Kylian Mbappé scoring at will and his team winning its first seven games of the season. Even a loss to Atletico Madrid was partially forgotten after a victory over Barcelona.
Then something went wrong. A loss at Liverpool in the Champions League last month sent the team into a nosedive. Losing at Anfield is acceptable for any club; three consecutive draws to Rayo Vallecano, Elche and Girona in La Liga set off the alarm bells at a Madrid that considers itself the best in the world.
But worse was to come: a humiliating 2-0 defeat to Celta Vigo followed by a 2-1 loss to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday. Both of those losses came in front of some disgruntled fans at the Santiago Bernabeu, who jeered the team.
Now all bets are off on Alonso’s future just months after he left Bayer Leverkusen following his exceptional job at the German club that culminated in the Bundesliga title in 2024.
Next up Madrid faces a trip to Alaves in northern Spain in the Spanish league on Sunday.
On feeling the criticism and doubts, Alonso said he is not surprised.
“You have to live with it, and when you’re the coach of Real Madrid, you have to be prepared to face it bravely, responsibly and self-critically, knowing that things can change,” the former Madrid midfielder said. “Despite the result, I’ve seen positive things individually and collectively. Other things haven’t gone so well, but we’re still in it.”
A game at Alaves would normally be considered a comfortable outing for Madrid. But given its poor form and the pressure on Alonso, it could prove anything but.
Alaves is strong at home with only two losses in eight games in Vitoria this season, including a 1-0 win over Real Sociedad last round.
Leader Barcelona, meanwhile, has surged ahead of Madrid and holds a four-point advantage before it hosts Osasuna on Saturday.
Villarreal is in third just one point behind Madrid. It visits Levante on Sunday. Fourth-placed Atletico Madrid welcomes Valencia on Saturday.
Madrid's fans will be eagerly waiting to see if Mbappé, who leads La Liga with 16 goals, will be available after he missed the loss against City reportedly due to a minor knee issue.
“We’ll go day-by-day,” Alonso said about Mbappé after the match. “Today he wasn’t fit to play, otherwise he would’ve played.”
The next top scorer in the league is Barcelona's Ferran Torres.
With his 11 league goals, Torres has established himself as a real attacking alternative to Robert Lewandowski for Barcelona.
After Lewandowski started in a 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Tuesday, Torres could be back in the starting 11 for Osasuna.
Madrid defender Éder Militão is sidelined after tearing a left-leg muscle in the loss to Celta.
Madrid will also be without suspended players Fran García, Dani Carvajal, Álvaro Carreras and Endrick, who all ran afoul of the referee in the Celta debacle.
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Real Madrid's head coach Xabi Alonso enters the pitch before a Champions League opening phase soccer match between Real Madrid and Manchester City, in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
GOMA, Congo (AP) — More than 400 civilians have been killed since the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group escalated its offensive in the South Kivu province in eastern Congo, regional officials said late Wednesday, adding that Rwandan special forces were in the strategic city of Uvira.
M23’s latest offensive comes despite a U.S.-mediated peace agreement signed last week by the Congolese and Rwandan presidents in Washington. The accord didn’t include the rebel group, which is negotiating separately with Congo and agreed earlier this year to a ceasefire that both sides accuse the other of violating. However, it obliges Rwanda to halt support for armed groups and work to end hostilities.
“More than 413 civilians (have been) killed by bullets, grenades, and bombs, including many women, children, and young people” in localities between Uvira and Bukavu, the regional capital, the South Kivu government spokesperson said in a statement late Wednesday.
“According to the information gathered, the forces present in the city are composed of Rwandan special forces and some of their foreign mercenaries, operating in clear violation of the ceasefire as well as the Washington and Doha agreements, in total disregard of the commitments made," the statement added.
M23 said it had taken control of the strategic city of Uvira in eastern Congo on Wednesday afternoon, following a rapid offensive since the start of the month.
The announcement by M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka, posted on the social platform X, encouraged citizens who fled to return to their homes. Uvira is an important port city on the northern tip of Lake Tanganyika and is directly across from neighboring Burundi’s largest city, Bujumbura.
Congo, the U.S. and U.N. experts accuse Rwanda of backing M23, which had hundreds of members in 2021. Now, according to the U.N., the group has around 6,500 fighters.
While Rwanda denies that claim, it acknowledged last year that it has troops and missile systems in eastern Congo, allegedly to safeguard its security. U.N. experts estimate there are up to 4,000 Rwandan forces in Congo.
Burundian Foreign Minister Edouard Bizimana, in an interview with French state media RFI on Wednesday, urged the U.S. to pressure Rwandan President Paul Kagame to ensure the implementation of the agreement signed in the U.S., saying, “M23 without Kagame, without Rwanda, is nothing.”
Bizimana said the capture of Uvira poses a threat to the economic capital, Bujumbura.
“We have registered more than 30,000 refugees and asylum-seekers in the last three days … Uvira and Bujumbura are coastal cities. What threatens Uvira also threatens Bujumbura."
On Thursday, Kanyuka said on X that “some Burundian forces have returned to their national territory, while others have entrenched themselves in the highlands,” referring to the hills of Uvira and Mininebwe in South Kivu.
“Since early Thursday morning, Dec. 11, 2025, these elements entrenched in the highlands have resumed, with unacceptable brutality, their campaign of extermination against our Tutsi Banyamulenge compatriots in Minembwe, indiscriminately launching bombs and using heavy artillery that is killing innocent civilians, including women and children," he wrote.
In a statement Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa urged M23 and Rwandan troops to cease all offensive operations and for the Rwandan Defense Forces to withdraw to Rwanda.
On Wednesday morning, the Rwandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs blamed the Congolese armed forces for the recent ceasefire violations in a statement on X.
“The DRC has openly stated that it would not observe any ceasefire, and was fighting to recapture territories lost to AFC/M23, even as the peace process unfolded,” it said.
More than 100 armed groups are vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda, most prominently M23. The conflict has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises, with more than 7 million people displaced, officials say.
Local U.N. partners report that more than 200,000 people have been displaced across the province since Dec. 2, with more than 70 killed. Civilians also have crossed into Burundi, and there have been reports of shells falling in the town of Rugombo, on the Burundian side of the border, raising concerns about the conflict spilling over into Burundian territory.
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Pronczuk reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Renovat Ndabashinze in Bujumbura, Burundi, contributed to this report.
FILE - M23 rebels escort government soldiers and police who surrendered to an undisclosed location in Goma, Democratic republic of the Congo, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, File)
