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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” the manager declared, possibly asserting a little too much. “If you coach Real Madrid, you are prepared for anything,” he added on the eve before Pep Guardiola's side step back into the Santiago Bernabéu for a new instalment of a very modern classic. “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”. A defeat and things could shift instantly, and permanently: this chance is an obligation, too.

Urgent Meetings After Desperate Loss at the Bernabéu

Following Madrid’s woefully inadequate 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso revealed he had “formed his own assessments,” and he was in plentiful company. Long after the final whistle, emergency discussions persisted, the club’s hierarchy reaching their own verdicts after a mere one victory in five league games. Their diagnoses were divergent and while severe measures remain on hold, tolerance has limits, the names of candidates already circulating. “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,” Aurélien Tchouaméni remarked. “A 2-0 defeat to Celta indicates an issue that lies with us, not the manager.”

A Rapid Deterioration After Initial Success

City will be his twenty-eighth outing in charge of Madrid and it might be his final one at a club where a turmoil is always just two losses around the corner, where even draws will not do, and there’s perpetually an alternative who can coach. Things have indeed shifted swiftly, even if the seeds of the problem were there from the start. Presented as a systems coach, precisely the required remedy after a season of lack of discipline and disappointment, Alonso was a cultural shock at a squad-centric organization.

When Madrid triumphed in El Clásico in late October, they opened a five-point gap at the top. They had won 12 of 13 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, seemingly ready to quit the club. In a letter a few days later he said sorry to all but Alonso. Institutionally, rather than reinforcing the manager, there was silence.

Strains Brought to the Surface

Behind the scenes, the verdict was evident: Alonso ought not to have substituted Vinícius off. Pressed on the issue if he would make the same call, Alonso replied: “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.” Strains had been laid bare, a rift between coach and some players. Federico Valverde too had expressed his irritation publicly. The components weren't meshing as they should. A common complaint began to slip out about all the directives, the film sessions, the lengthy training. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

More than a week after the clásico, Madrid were beaten by Liverpool, starting a sequence of two wins in seven. Able to play direct, they overcame Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those tied with Rayo, Elche and Girona. Belatedly, talks were held to repair cracks or at least mask the problems, to establish peace. Focus was directed at the footballers for the first time.

A Fragile Truce

In Bilbao, where they had been brought together a day early, it seemed some middle ground had been established; Alonso yielding to their requests more than they did his. Reconciliation was orchestrated when Vinícius greeted the coach as he departed. A couple of days' rest followed. A few days after, though, Celta beat them and so it falls apart once more.

That it is known that Alonso’s future is in doubt is as significant as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be denied, but it is deliberate. 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 awful against Celta: no identity, poor commitment, an absence of tactical shape.

The Coach: The Simplest Fix

But the most vulnerable point, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the sporting matters, was the central theme to this game. However much the man who is still Madrid’s manager kept trying to refocus on the match, which he did with virtually all his replies. The briefest response he gave might have been the most telling, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the entire team was behind him, Alonso replied in a one word: “yes.”

“Being Madrid manager is not about changing [the culture]; it is about adapting,” Alonso added. “We know the culture of Real Madrid pretty well; that is why it is the biggest club in the world. You have to adapt, learn a lot, interact with the players. Some days are good, some not so good. We have to face that with energy and positivity, that is the only way to turn things around.”

It was when he was asked if he felt alone that Alonso talked of a team, a club, that goes in unison, and when attention was turned to the question of backing or its absence from above, he replied: “Dialogue with the leadership is ongoing, founded on trust, togetherness, and mutual respect. We are all united in this endeavor. We are psychologically prepared for any challenge: the squad is unified, certain of victory tomorrow, without a shadow of doubt. This is the Champions League. We are playing at the Bernabéu. The environment will be electric. That generates a unique dynamism, even among the players.”