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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” Xabi Alonso insisted, perhaps asserting a little too much. “Being the manager of Real Madrid means you are always prepared,” he remarked on the eve before the English champions return to the Santiago Bernabéu for a new instalment of a contemporary rivalry. “I’m looking forward to what’s coming and that starts tomorrow, [an opportunity] to turn round the anger. In our heads, there’s only City. In football, for better or worse, things change quickly”. A defeat and things could change immediately, and permanently: this moment is an duty, too.

Emergency Discussions After Dismal Setback

Following Madrid’s woefully inadequate 2-0 loss at their own stadium on Sunday, Alonso revealed he had “drawn conclusions,” and he was not alone. Into the early hours, urgent meetings carried on, the club’s board reaching their own verdicts after a mere one victory in five league games. Their assessments were different and while radical changes are temporarily shelved, tolerance has limits, the names of candidates 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,” one of the squad's leaders remarked. “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 may prove to be his farewell at a club where a crisis 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 evolved rapidly, even if the seeds of the problem were there from the start. Hailed as a tactical disciplinarian, precisely the required remedy after a season of laissez-faire and failure, Alonso was an anomaly at a squad-centric organization.

When Madrid won the clásico in late October, they moved five points ahead at the top. They had secured twelve victories in thirteen competitive games, although the setback was significant: 5-2 at Atlético. It also revealed cracks. Taken off after 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior headed directly for the dressing room, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a missive a few days later he said sorry to all but Alonso. Institutionally, rather than backing the coach, there was a conspicuous quiet.

Strains Brought to the Surface

Behind the scenes, the assessment was obvious: Alonso shouldn’t have taken Vinícius off. Questioned on this point if he would make the same call, 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 exposed, a separation between trainer and a portion of the team. Federico Valverde too had made his frustrations public. The pieces weren’t fitting as they should. A typical grievance began to emerge about all the instructions, the video analysis, the extended practices. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

More than a week after the clásico, Madrid were beaten by Liverpool, starting a sequence of two wins in seven. Able to play direct, they overcame Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those drew at Rayo, Elche and Girona. After a delay, talks were held to mend divisions or at least cover cracks, to establish peace. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time.

A Short-Lived Reconciliation

In Bilbao, where they had been brought together a day early, it seemed some agreement had been established; Alonso yielding to their requests more than they did his. Rapprochement was orchestrated when Vinícius greeted the 44-year-old as he departed. A brief break followed. Four days later, though, Celta overcame them and so it falls apart once more.

That it is known that Alonso’s future is in doubt is as notable 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 injuries and unfairness, not even truly believing his own words, Madrid were dreadful against Celta: no identity, a deficient mentality, no structure.

The Manager: The Easiest Target

But the most vulnerable point, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the actual football, 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 almost every response. The shortest answer he gave might have been the most significant, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the whole squad was behind him, Alonso replied in a solitary term: “yes.”

“The role of Real Madrid coach isn't to alter the culture; it is to adjust,” Alonso stated. “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 together, and when attention was turned to the question of backing or its absence 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.”