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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” the Real Madrid coach stated emphatically, perhaps protesting a little too much. “If you coach Real Madrid, you are prepared for anything,” he remarked on the morning before Manchester City visit once more the Santiago Bernabéu for a new edition of a very modern classic. “I am eager for what lies ahead, beginning tomorrow, a chance to transform the frustration. Our sole focus is City. In this sport, whether good or bad, situations evolve rapidly.” Failure and things could alter for good, and definitively: this moment is an duty, too.

Crisis Talks After Poor Setback

Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 loss at their own stadium on Sunday, Alonso said he had “formed his own assessments,” and he was in plentiful company. Long after the final whistle, crisis talks continued, the club’s hierarchy forming their own opinions after a mere one victory in five league games. Their diagnoses were different and while severe measures are temporarily shelved, patience is finite, 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,” Aurélien Tchouaméni remarked. “A 2-0 defeat to Celta indicates an issue that lies with us, not the manager.”

A Rapid Deterioration After Early Success

City will be his twenty-eighth outing 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 draws will not do, and there’s always someone else who can coach. Things have indeed changed fast, even if the origins of the trouble were there from the start. Presented as a structured planner, precisely the required remedy after a season of laissez-faire and failure, Alonso was counter-cultural at a players’ club.

When Madrid won the clásico in late October, they moved five points ahead 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, seemingly ready to quit the club. In a missive a few days later he apologised to everyone except Alonso. At the executive level, rather than supporting the trainer, there was a conspicuous quiet.

Tensions Coming to Light

Internally, the verdict was evident: Alonso ought not to have substituted Vinícius off. Pressed on the issue if he would make the same call, Alonso responded: “The intent behind that question eludes me. When a situation on the pitch demands a choice, I make it.” Strains had been laid bare, a separation between trainer and a portion of the team. Federico Valverde too had expressed his irritation publicly. The pieces weren’t fitting as they should. A typical grievance began to slip out about all the instructions, the film sessions, the extended practices. 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 beat Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those tied with Rayo, Elche and Girona. Eventually, talks were held to fix fault lines or at least cover cracks, to restore tranquility. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time.

A Fragile Truce

In Bilbao, where they had been gathered a day early, it seemed some agreement had been found; Alonso yielding to their requests more than they did his. Reconciliation was orchestrated when Vinícius greeted the manager as he departed. A couple of days' rest followed. Four days later, though, Celta overcame them and so it unravels again.

That it is public knowledge that Alonso’s future is in doubt 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 bad luck, not even truly persuading himself, Madrid were dreadful against Celta: an absence of character, no attitude, no structure.

The Gaffer: The Easiest Target

But the simplest fix, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the sporting matters, 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 most concise reply he gave might have been the most significant, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the complete roster 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 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 by himself 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 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.”