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“We are a united club, a team, and we all move forward together,” the Real Madrid coach insisted, possibly protesting a little too much. “If you coach Real Madrid, you are prepared for anything,” he remarked on the day before Manchester City step back into the Santiago Bernabéu for a new 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 change immediately, and permanently: this chance is an imperative, too.

Emergency Discussions After Dismal Setback

Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 setback on Sunday, Alonso said he had “drawn conclusions,” and he was in plentiful company. Into the early hours, urgent meetings persisted, the club’s hierarchy forming their own opinions after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their analyses were divergent 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 stated in the press conference

“Certainly the trainer devised an effective approach, but when it comes down to it, the players execute on the field,” the French midfielder said. “If we lost 2-0 to Celta, there’s a problem that’s on us: it’s not the coach’s fault.”

A Swift Descent After Early Success

City will be his 28th game in charge of Madrid and it could be his last at a club where a turmoil is never more than a couple of defeats away, where even ties are unacceptable, and there’s perpetually an alternative who can coach. Things have indeed changed fast, even if the roots of the crisis were there from the start. Hailed as a structured planner, precisely the required remedy after a season of lack of discipline and disappointment, Alonso was counter-cultural at a players’ club.

When Madrid won the 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 highlighted flaws. Substituted on 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior stormed off down the tunnel, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a letter a few days later he apologised to everyone except Alonso. At the executive level, rather than reinforcing the manager, there was silence.

Tensions Emerging

Internally, the assessment was evident: Alonso shouldn’t have taken Vinícius off. Questioned on this point if he would repeat that decision, 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.” Frictions had been brought to the surface, a separation 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 orders, the video analysis, the extended practices. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Over a week after the clásico, Madrid were defeated at Anfield, starting a sequence 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 cover cracks, to bring calm. Focus shifted to 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 meeting their needs more than they did his. A thawing of relations was displayed when Vinícius embraced the 44-year-old as he departed. A brief break followed. A few days after, though, Celta beat them and so it disintegrates anew.

That it is public knowledge that Alonso’s future is under scrutiny is as significant as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be rebutted, but it is calculated. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about player absences and bad luck, not even truly convincing himself, Madrid were awful against Celta: an absence of character, 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 on-pitch performance, dominated the buildup 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 briefest response he gave might have been the most telling, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the complete roster was behind him, Alonso replied in a single word: “yes.”

“Being Madrid manager is not about changing [the culture]; it is about adapting,” Alonso continued. “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 by himself that Alonso talked of a collective, a club, that goes in unison, and when attention was turned to the question of endorsement or the deficit from above, he commented: “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.”