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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” Xabi Alonso declared, perhaps protesting a little too much. “If you coach Real Madrid, you are prepared for anything,” he remarked on the eve before Pep Guardiola's side visit once more the Santiago Bernabéu for the latest instalment of a very modern classic. “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 opportunity is an imperative, too.

Crisis Talks After Dismal Loss at the Bernabéu

Following Madrid’s woefully inadequate 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso said he had “drawn conclusions,” and he was in plentiful company. Into the early hours, urgent meetings persisted, the club’s board drawing their own conclusions after a mere one victory in five league games. Their assessments were different and while drastic decisions are temporarily shelved, tolerance has limits, the names of possible successors already out. “These are scenarios you must deal with, yet my mind is fixed only on the game, on what I can influence,” Alonso commented

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

A Quick Decline After Initial Promise

City will be his 28th game in charge of Madrid and it may prove to be his farewell at a club where a state of emergency is perpetually looming after a few setbacks, where even sharing points is insufficient, and there’s perpetually an alternative who can coach. Things have indeed shifted swiftly, even if the seeds of the problem were there from the start. Sold as a systems coach, precisely the required remedy after a season of laissez-faire and failure, Alonso was an anomaly at a players’ club.

When Madrid triumphed in El Clásico in late October, they established a five-point lead 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. Taken off after 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior headed directly for the dressing room, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a statement a few days later he apologised to everyone except Alonso. From the club's leadership, rather than backing the coach, there was a conspicuous quiet.

Tensions Emerging

Internally, the assessment was clear: Alonso shouldn’t have taken Vinícius off. Questioned on this point if he would make the same call, Alonso responded: “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.” Frictions had been brought to the surface, a rift between manager and certain squad members. Federico Valverde too had made his frustrations public. The components weren't meshing as they should. A common complaint began to surface about all the orders, the film sessions, the long sessions. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Over a week after the clásico, Madrid were overcome at Liverpool, beginning a run of two wins in seven. Capable of a more direct style, they defeated Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those were held by Rayo, Elche and Girona. Eventually, talks were held to mend divisions or at least mask the problems, to bring calm. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time.

A Short-Lived Reconciliation

In Bilbao, where they had been assembled a day early, it seemed some compromise had been found; 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. A few days after, though, Celta overcame them and so it falls apart once more.

That it is understood 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 calculated. 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, a lack of organization.

The Manager: The Most Obvious Solution

But the simplest fix, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the sporting matters, overshadowed the preparation 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 shortest answer he gave might have been the most revealing, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the entire team was behind him, Alonso replied in a one word: “yes.”

“Managing Real Madrid doesn't involve transforming the culture; it requires fitting in,” Alonso continued. “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 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.”