Pep Chavarria and Xabi Alonso have already come head-to-head amid talks over him making his way to Chelsea.
Pep Chavarria made 33 appearances in La Liga and featured in 41 matches across all competitions, helping Rayo Vallecano keep nine clean sheets in total.
With Xabi Alonso having worked at Real Madrid last season, he got a first-hand look at what Chavarria was all about. Fast forward months and the Blues have opened negotiations with the Spanish club after getting the green light from the left-back.
However, he’ll have to wait for his chance behind Jorrel Hato in the pecking order.
The only time Pep Chavarria played against Xabi Alonso
Under Xabi Alonso’s guidance, Real Madrid encountered a brick wall when they traveled to the Estadio de Vallecas in November. Rayo Vallecano put together a masterclass in defensive resilience, executing a compact block that choked out Madrid’s frontline and forced a frustrating 0–0 draw.
Pep Chavarria was central to this defensive success at left-back, primarily tasked with marking Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz.
He limited Madrid’s ability to create numerical advantages out wide and successfully stopped dangerous service from reaching Kylian Mbappe.
But the one thing that stood out was his flawless positional awareness and composure under pressure, something that was missing at Chelsea last season.
Chavarria’s stats in the game against Real Madrid
Chavarria had a passing accuracy percentage of 80%, won one aerial duel, had 77 touches of the ball (second most of any player on the pitch), completed one dribble and was fouled twice.
Defensively, he made three tackles and two clearances.
A stark contrast to the fixture between Real Madrid and Rayo Vallecano in 2026, when Chavarria was given a red card in the dying embers of the game.
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