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“We are a united club, a team, and we all move forward together,” Xabi Alonso insisted, maybe asserting somewhat excessively. “Being the manager of Real Madrid means you are always prepared,” he continued on the morning before Pep Guardiola's side step back into the Santiago Bernabéu for the latest instalment of a frequent heavyweight clash. “I’m looking forward to what’s coming and that starts tomorrow, [an opportunity] to turn round the anger. In our heads, there’s only City. In football, for better or worse, things change quickly”. Losing and things could alter for good, and for good: this chance is an obligation, too.

Urgent Meetings After Poor Setback

Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 setback on Sunday, Alonso said he had “reached some conclusions,” and he was not alone. Into the early hours, emergency discussions carried on, the club’s hierarchy forming their own opinions after a single win in five league games. Their analyses were not the same and while drastic decisions are temporarily shelved, forbearance is running out, the names of potential replacements already out. “You have to face those situations but my head’s only on the game, things I can control,” Alonso commented

“For sure the coach had a good plan but, in the end we, the players, are the ones on the pitch,” one of the squad's leaders stated. “Losing by two goals to Celta points to a deficiency in our performance, not the coach's planning.”

A Rapid Descent After Early Promise

City will be his twenty-eighth match in charge of Madrid and it might be his final one at a club where a state of emergency is always just two losses around the corner, where even ties are unacceptable, and there’s invariably another candidate who can coach. Things have indeed evolved rapidly, even if the roots of the crisis were there from the start. Hailed as a tactical disciplinarian, the ideal solution after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was an anomaly at a players’ club.

When Madrid won the clásico in late October, they moved five points ahead at the top. They had triumphed in twelve out of thirteen competitive games, although the defeat was emphatic: 5-2 at Atlético. It also revealed cracks. Replaced in the 72nd minute, Vinícius Júnior marched straight down the tunnel, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a statement a few days later he said sorry to all but Alonso. Institutionally, rather than supporting the trainer, there was radio silence.

Tensions Emerging

Behind the scenes, the assessment was obvious: Alonso ought not to have substituted Vinícius off. Questioned on this point if he would do that again, Alonso answered: “I don’t know what that question is for. If I see in the moment that I have to take a decision on the pitch, I do.” Tensions had been exposed, a separation between coach and some players. Federico Valverde too had made his frustrations public. The pieces weren’t fitting as they should. A common complaint began to slip out about all the instructions, the video analysis, the extended practices. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Nine days after the clásico, Madrid were overcome at Liverpool, beginning a run of two wins in seven. Capable of a more direct style, they beat Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those tied with Rayo, Elche and Girona. Belatedly, talks were held to mend divisions or at least paper over the issues, to restore tranquility. Focus shifted to the footballers for the first time.

A Short-Lived Truce

In Bilbao, where they had been assembled a day early, it seemed some agreement had been established; Alonso yielding to their requests more than they did his. A thawing of relations was displayed when Vinícius embraced the coach as he departed. A couple of days' rest followed. Subsequently, though, Celta defeated them and so it falls apart once more.

That it is understood that Alonso’s future is under scrutiny is as important as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be rebutted, but it is intentional. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about fitness issues and unfairness, not even truly convincing himself, Madrid were dreadful against Celta: an absence of character, poor commitment, a lack of organization.

The Coach: The Most Obvious Solution

But the weakest link, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the on-pitch performance, was the central theme to this game. However much the man who is still Madrid’s manager kept trying to redirect attention to the match, which he did with virtually all his replies. The shortest answer he gave might have been the most revealing, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the complete roster was behind him, Alonso replied in a solitary term: “yes.”

“Managing Real Madrid doesn't involve transforming the culture; it requires fitting in,” Alonso stated. “We understand the ethos of Real Madrid thoroughly; it's what makes it the globe's greatest club. One must adjust, absorb knowledge, engage with the squad. Certain days bring success, others less so. We must confront this with vigor and optimism; it's the sole path to reversal.”

It was when he was asked if he felt isolated that Alonso talked of a team, a club, that goes hand in hand, and when attention was turned to the question of support or the lack of it from above, he answered: “Communication [with the hierarchy] is constant, and it comes from confidence, unity and affection. We’re all together in this. We’re mentally ready to face everything that comes: the team is united, convinced that we can win tomorrow, no one has any doubts about that. It is the Champions League. We are at the Bernabéu. The atmosphere will be special. That creates a different energy, including in the players.”