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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, maybe affirming a tad forcefully. “If you coach Real Madrid, you are prepared for anything,” he continued on the day before the English champions return to the Santiago Bernabéu for a new instalment of a frequent heavyweight clash. “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.” A defeat and things could change immediately, and definitively: this chance is an duty, too.

Urgent Meetings 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 not alone. Long after the final whistle, crisis talks carried on, the club’s board drawing their own conclusions after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their diagnoses were not the same and while severe measures remain on hold, patience is finite, the names of potential replacements already circulating. “One must confront such circumstances, but my focus is solely on the match, on elements within my power,” Alonso commented

“For sure the coach had a good plan but, in the end we, the players, are the ones on the pitch,” Aurélien Tchouaméni said. “A 2-0 defeat to Celta indicates an issue that lies with us, not the manager.”

A Quick Decline After Initial Promise

City will be his 28th game in charge of Madrid and it could be his last at a club where a crisis 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 origins of the trouble were there from the start. Hailed as a systems coach, exactly what they needed 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 established a five-point lead at the top. They had secured twelve victories in thirteen competitive games, although the defeat was emphatic: 5-2 at Atlético. It also highlighted flaws. Replaced in the 72nd minute, Vinícius Júnior headed directly for the dressing room, reportedly threatening to leave the club. In a missive a few days later he said sorry to all but Alonso. From the club's leadership, rather than backing the coach, there was silence.

Tensions Coming to Light

Behind the scenes, the verdict was clear: Alonso was wrong to remove Vinícius off. Pressed on the issue if he would do that again, 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.” Tensions had been brought to the surface, a separation between manager and certain squad members. Federico Valverde too had voiced his discontent openly. The pieces weren’t fitting as they should. A familiar lament began to emerge about all the directives, the videos, the long sessions. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Over a week after the clásico, Madrid were defeated at Anfield, 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. After a delay, talks were held to fix fault lines or at least paper over the issues, to restore tranquility. Focus shifted to the footballers for the first time.

A Temporary Rapprochement

In Bilbao, where they had been assembled a day early, it seemed some compromise had been established; Alonso yielding to their requests more than they did his. Rapprochement was orchestrated when Vinícius greeted the manager as he departed. A brief break followed. Four days later, though, Celta defeated 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 denied, but it is deliberate. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about fitness issues and bad luck, not even truly convincing himself, Madrid were terrible against Celta: a lack of style, poor commitment, a lack of organization.

The Coach: The Simplest Fix

But the most vulnerable point, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the actual football, overshadowed the preparation 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 almost every response. The briefest response he gave might have been the most telling, 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 isolated that Alonso talked of a collective, a club, that goes in unison, and when attention was turned to the question of support or the lack of it from above, he answered: “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.”