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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” the manager declared, perhaps asserting a little too much. “When you’re Real Madrid coach you’re ready,” he added on the day before Manchester City return to the Santiago Bernabéu for another instalment of a contemporary rivalry. “I anticipate the challenge ahead, starting tomorrow—an opening to redirect the disappointment. Our minds are fixed solely on City. Football, for better or worse, is a game of swift changes.” Losing and things could shift instantly, and permanently: this opportunity is an duty, too.

Urgent Meetings After Dismal Home Defeat

Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso stated he had “reached some conclusions,” and he was in plentiful company. Into the early hours, emergency discussions persisted, the club’s leadership drawing their own conclusions after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their diagnoses were not the same and while radical changes are being postponed, tolerance has limits, the names of potential replacements already in the public domain. “One must confront such circumstances, but my focus is solely on the match, on elements within my power,” Alonso stated in the press conference

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

A Quick Descent After Initial Promise

City will be his twenty-eighth outing in charge of Madrid and it could be his last at a club where a turmoil is always just two losses around the corner, where even draws will not do, and there’s invariably another candidate who can coach. Things have indeed changed fast, even if the roots of the crisis were there from the start. Presented as a tactical disciplinarian, the ideal solution after a season of laissez-faire and failure, Alonso was counter-cultural at a players’ club.

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 setback was significant: 5-2 at Atlético. It also exposed fissures. Taken off after 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior stormed off down the tunnel, reportedly threatening to leave the club. In a missive a few days later he apologised to everyone except Alonso. From the club's leadership, rather than reinforcing the manager, there was a conspicuous quiet.

Strains Emerging

Within the dressing room, the conclusion was obvious: Alonso ought not to have substituted Vinícius off. Questioned on this point if he would do that again, Alonso responded: “The intent behind that question eludes me. When a situation on the pitch demands a choice, I make it.” Frictions had been brought to the surface, a disconnect 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 emerge about all the directives, the video analysis, the lengthy training. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Over a week after the clásico, Madrid were overcome at Liverpool, starting a sequence of two wins in seven. Capable of a more direct style, they overcame Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those tied with Rayo, Elche and Girona. After a delay, 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 Short-Lived Truce

In Bilbao, where they had been gathered a day early, it seemed some compromise had been established; Alonso yielding to their requests more than they did his. Reconciliation was staged when Vinícius hugged the coach as he departed. Two days off followed. A few days after, though, Celta defeated them and so it unravels again.

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 denied, but it is calculated. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about player absences and injustice, not even truly persuading himself, Madrid were terrible against Celta: no identity, poor commitment, no structure.

The Manager: 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 bring it back to the match, which he did with virtually all his replies. The most concise reply he gave might have been the most significant, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the entire team was behind him, Alonso replied in a single word: “yes.”

“The role of Real Madrid coach isn't to alter the culture; it is to adjust,” Alonso continued. “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 by himself that Alonso talked of a team, a club, that goes together, and when attention was turned to the question of backing or its absence from above, he answered: “Our contact with the board is continuous, stemming from belief, solidarity, and care. We stand as one in this situation. Our mindset is geared to confront all obstacles: the team is cohesive, fully believing we can triumph tomorrow, with absolute certainty. It's the Champions League. The Bernabéu is our stage. The ambiance will be unforgettable. That fosters a distinct vitality, particularly within the squad.”