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“We are a united club, a team, and we all move forward together,” the manager insisted, perhaps asserting somewhat excessively. “When you’re Real Madrid coach you’re ready,” he continued on the morning before Manchester City visit once more the Santiago Bernabéu for another instalment of a very modern classic. “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 alter for good, and definitively: this chance is an imperative, too.

Urgent Meetings After Poor Loss at the Bernabéu

Following Madrid’s woefully inadequate 2-0 setback on Sunday, Alonso said he had “reached some conclusions,” and he was far from the only one. Late into the night, emergency discussions carried on, the club’s board reaching their own verdicts after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their assessments were not the same and while severe measures remain on hold, patience is finite, the names of candidates already out. “You have to face those situations but my head’s only on the game, things I can control,” Alonso said here

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

A Swift Deterioration 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 crisis is perpetually looming after a few setbacks, where even sharing points is insufficient, and there’s always someone else who can coach. Things have indeed shifted swiftly, even if the seeds of the problem were there from the start. Hailed as a systems coach, exactly what they needed after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, 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 triumphed in twelve out of thirteen competitive games, although the defeat was emphatic: 5-2 at Atlético. It also revealed cracks. Substituted on 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior headed directly for the dressing room, seemingly ready to quit the club. In a statement a few days later he said sorry to all but Alonso. At the executive level, rather than reinforcing the manager, there was radio silence.

Frictions Brought to the Surface

Within the dressing room, the conclusion was evident: Alonso ought not to have substituted Vinícius off. Questioned on this point if he would repeat that decision, Alonso responded: “The intent behind that question eludes me. When a situation on the pitch demands a choice, I make it.” Tensions had been laid bare, a disconnect between manager and certain squad members. Federico Valverde too had made his frustrations public. The components weren't meshing as they should. A typical grievance began to surface 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 overcome at Liverpool, initiating a spell of two wins in seven. When adopting a straightforward approach, they defeated Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those drew at Rayo, Elche and Girona. Eventually, talks were held to mend divisions or at least mask the problems, to establish peace. Focus shifted to the footballers for the first time.

A Fragile Truce

In Bilbao, where they had been gathered a day early, it seemed some middle ground had been established; Alonso yielding to their requests more than they did his. Reconciliation was displayed when Vinícius greeted the manager as he departed. A couple of days' rest followed. Subsequently, though, Celta beat them and so it disintegrates anew.

That it is known that Alonso’s future is on the line is as important 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 injuries and bad luck, not even truly persuading himself, Madrid were terrible against Celta: an absence of character, no attitude, no structure.

The Gaffer: 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 refocus on 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 whole squad was behind him, Alonso replied in a solitary term: “yes.”

“Being Madrid manager is not about changing [the culture]; it is about adapting,” Alonso added. “The culture of Real Madrid is well-known to us; it's the reason for its status as the world's premier club. Adaptation, continuous learning, and player communication are key. There will be highs and lows. Meeting challenges with drive and a positive mindset is the only route to improvement.”

It was when he was asked if he felt isolated that Alonso talked of a team, a club, that goes in unison, and when attention was turned to the question of endorsement or the deficit from above, he answered: “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.”