Real Madrid plot Carlo Ancelotti farewell in 2025 with Cristiano Ronaldo ex-teammate favorite to take over at the helm: Reports

Real Madrid are reportedly working on manager Carlo Ancelotti's farewell from the club in 2025, with Cristiano Ronaldo's former teammate Raul seen as the replacement. Results at the Santiago Bernabeu have been rather disappointing this season, and the club hierarchy are looking to move on from Ancelotti.

In their domestic league campaign, Los Blancos sit in second place with 27 points and a game in hand, six points behind Barcelona. They have been affected by a number of draws against clubs like Las Palmas and Mallorca - matches they were widely expected to win. They also endured a 4-0 loss to Barcelona in La Liga.

Real Madrid's Champions League campaign is not faring any better, with shock losses to LOSC Lille and AC Milan. Despite winning the competition last season, they currently sit in 18th place, in playoff spots. With four matches left, the defending champions will need to improve their performances and win games to rise through the ranks and get through the knockout stages.

These performances under Carlo Ancelotti have made the Italian manager's position at the club somewhat untenable. The club's plan had been to wait till the end of the season, before making a move for main managerial target Xabi Alonso, who will not leave Bayer Leverkusen mid-season.

However, if Real Madrid do sack Ancelotti mid-season, a report from Tribal Football has revealed that they are willing to go for Cristiano Ronaldo's teammate Raul. This will not be a difficult task, as the legendary striker is currently the manager of the club's Castilla team.

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Why Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid in 2018

Cristiano Ronaldo made the decision to leave Real Madrid, where he had become a club legend, for Juventus in 2018. He went on to spend three years in Italy, before returning to Manchester United, and then leaving Europe to play for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia.

Despite winning the Champions League with Los Blancos that season, Ronaldo decided an exit was the best thing. Back in October 2018, he revealed in an interview with France Football that he was "no longer indispensable" to the club and president Florentino Perez. He said (via Givemesport):

“I felt it inside the club, especially from the president, that they no longer considered me the same way that they did in the start. In the first four or five years there, I had the feeling of being ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’.

"Less afterwards. The president looked at me through eyes that didn’t want to say the same thing, as if I was no longer indispensable to them."

The Real Madrid legend added:

“That’s what made me think about leaving. Sometimes I’d look at the news, where they were saying I was asking to leave. There was a bit of that, but the truth is, I always had the impression the president would not hold me back."

Los Blancos struggled temporarily after his exit, as they did not win the Champions League until 2022. On the other hand, Ronaldo did not win the tournament again, before leaving Europe in November 2022.