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“We are a united club, a team, and we all move forward together,” Xabi Alonso insisted, perhaps protesting a tad forcefully. “Being the manager of Real Madrid means you are always prepared,” he continued on the day before the English champions return to the Santiago Bernabéu for a new edition 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”. Losing and things could shift instantly, and for good: this chance is an imperative, too.

Urgent Meetings After Desperate Setback

Following Madrid’s woefully inadequate 2-0 setback on Sunday, Alonso stated he had “formed his own assessments,” and he was far from the only one. Late into the night, crisis talks persisted, the club’s hierarchy reaching their own verdicts after a single win in five league games. Their assessments were different and while radical changes are being postponed, patience is finite, the names of possible successors already out. “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,” one of the squad's leaders remarked. “If we lost 2-0 to Celta, there’s a problem that’s on us: it’s not the coach’s fault.”

A Rapid Decline After Early Success

City will be his twenty-eighth match 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 invariably another candidate who can coach. Things have indeed shifted swiftly, even if the origins of the trouble were there from the start. Sold as a tactical disciplinarian, precisely the required remedy after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was counter-cultural at a star-driven institution.

When Madrid triumphed in El Clásico in late October, they moved five points ahead at the top. They had won 12 of 13 competitive games, although the loss had been heavy: 5-2 at Atlético. It also highlighted flaws. Substituted on 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior marched straight down the tunnel, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a letter a few days later he apologised to everyone except Alonso. Institutionally, rather than backing the coach, there was silence.

Tensions Coming to Light

Behind the scenes, the verdict was evident: Alonso ought not to have substituted Vinícius off. Questioned on this point if he would make the same call, Alonso answered: “The intent behind that question eludes me. When a situation on the pitch demands a choice, I make it.” Strains had been exposed, a rift between manager and certain squad members. Federico Valverde too had expressed his irritation publicly. The pieces weren’t fitting as they should. A common complaint began to emerge about all the directives, the video analysis, the lengthy training. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

More than a week after the clásico, Madrid were defeated at Anfield, initiating a spell of two wins in seven. Capable of a more direct style, they overcame Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those drew at 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 assembled a day early, it seemed some agreement had been reached; Alonso accommodating their demands more than they did his. Reconciliation was displayed when Vinícius greeted the coach as he departed. A couple of days' rest followed. Four days later, though, Celta overcame them and so it falls apart once more.

That it is understood that Alonso’s future is in doubt 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 unfairness, not even truly believing his own words, Madrid were awful against Celta: an absence of character, no attitude, no structure.

The Manager: The Simplest Fix

But the most vulnerable point, 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 redirect attention to the match, which he did with almost every response. The most concise reply 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.”

“Managing Real Madrid doesn't involve transforming the culture; it requires fitting in,” 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 unit, a club, that goes hand in hand, and when attention was turned to the question of backing or its absence from above, he replied: “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.”