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“We are a united club, a team, and we all move forward together,” the manager declared, maybe protesting a tad forcefully. “If you coach Real Madrid, you are prepared for anything,” he added on the day before Manchester City return to the Santiago Bernabéu for another instalment of a contemporary rivalry. “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”. Failure and things could shift instantly, and permanently: this chance is an obligation, too.

Crisis Talks After Desperate Home Defeat

Following Madrid’s utterly disappointing 2-0 loss at their own stadium on Sunday, Alonso revealed he had “formed his own assessments,” and he was not alone. Into the early hours, emergency discussions persisted, the club’s board drawing their own conclusions after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their analyses were different and while radical changes are temporarily shelved, 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 said here

“Certainly the trainer devised an effective approach, but when it comes down to it, the players execute on the field,” one of the squad's leaders said. “A 2-0 defeat to Celta indicates an issue that lies with us, not the manager.”

A Swift Descent After Early Success

City will be his twenty-eighth match in charge of Madrid and it may prove to be his farewell at a club where a turmoil is always just two losses around the corner, where even sharing points is insufficient, and there’s always someone else who can coach. Things have indeed evolved rapidly, even if the origins of the trouble were there from the start. Hailed as a structured planner, the ideal solution after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was counter-cultural at a star-driven institution.

When Madrid won the clásico in late October, they opened a five-point gap at the top. They had triumphed in twelve out of thirteen competitive games, although the setback was significant: 5-2 at Atlético. It also revealed cracks. Replaced in the 72nd minute, Vinícius Júnior marched straight down the tunnel, reportedly threatening to leave the club. In a statement a few days later he apologised to everyone except Alonso. At the executive level, rather than supporting the trainer, there was a conspicuous quiet.

Frictions Brought to the Surface

Within the dressing room, the verdict was evident: Alonso ought not to have substituted Vinícius off. Asked here if he would do that again, Alonso responded: “I am unsure of the purpose of that query. If, in the moment, I believe a decision is required on the field, I will make it.” Tensions had been brought to the surface, a separation between manager and certain squad members. Federico Valverde too had expressed his irritation publicly. The components weren't meshing as they should. A common complaint began to surface about all the orders, the video analysis, the long sessions. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

More than a week after the clásico, Madrid were defeated at Anfield, starting a sequence of two wins in seven. When adopting a straightforward approach, they beat Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those drew at Rayo, Elche and Girona. After a delay, talks were held to mend divisions or at least cover cracks, to restore tranquility. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time.

A Short-Lived Rapprochement

In Bilbao, where they had been brought together a day early, it seemed some middle ground had been reached; Alonso yielding to their requests more than they did his. Reconciliation was displayed when Vinícius embraced the manager as he departed. Two days off followed. Subsequently, though, Celta beat them and so it falls apart once more.

That it is public knowledge 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 deliberate. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about player absences and unfairness, not even truly persuading himself, Madrid were terrible against Celta: a lack of style, poor commitment, a lack of organization.

The Coach: The Easiest Target

But the simplest fix, 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 redirect attention to the match, which he did with virtually all his replies. The briefest response he gave might have been the most revealing, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the entire team was behind him, Alonso replied in a single word: “yes.”

“Being Madrid manager is not about changing [the culture]; it is about adapting,” Alonso stated. “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 isolated that Alonso talked of a unit, a club, that goes in unison, and when attention was turned to the question of support or the lack of it from above, he commented: “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.”