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“We are a collective, a single entity, and we are all in this as one,” the Real Madrid coach stated emphatically, perhaps protesting a tad forcefully. “If you coach Real Madrid, you are prepared for anything,” he remarked on the eve before Manchester City visit once more 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 alter for good, and definitively: this chance is an duty, too.

Crisis Talks After Poor Home Defeat

Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso said he had “reached some conclusions,” and he was not alone. Into the early hours, crisis talks persisted, the club’s hierarchy forming their own opinions after a mere one victory in five league games. Their diagnoses were divergent and while radical changes are being postponed, forbearance is running out, the names of possible successors already out. “You have to face those situations but my head’s only on the game, things I can control,” 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 Early 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 sharing points is insufficient, and there’s perpetually an alternative who can coach. Things have indeed evolved rapidly, even if the seeds of the problem were there from the start. Presented as a structured planner, precisely the required remedy after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was an anomaly at a star-driven institution.

When Madrid triumphed in El Clásico in late October, they opened a five-point gap at the top. They had won 12 of 13 competitive games, although the setback was significant: 5-2 at Atlético. It also exposed fissures. Substituted on 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. At the executive level, rather than backing the coach, there was a conspicuous quiet.

Strains Brought to the Surface

Behind the scenes, the verdict was clear: Alonso shouldn’t have taken Vinícius off. Asked here 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.” Tensions had been laid bare, a rift between trainer and a portion of the team. Federico Valverde too had voiced his discontent openly. The puzzle pieces weren't aligning as they should. A familiar lament began to surface about all the orders, the video analysis, the lengthy training. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Nine days after the clásico, Madrid were defeated at Anfield, starting a sequence of two wins in seven. When adopting a straightforward approach, they beat Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those were held by Rayo, Elche and Girona. Eventually, talks were held to mend divisions or at least paper over the issues, to bring calm. Focus was directed at the footballers for the first time.

A Fragile Rapprochement

In Bilbao, where they had been brought together a day early, it seemed some agreement had been found; Alonso meeting their needs more than they did his. Reconciliation was displayed when Vinícius greeted the manager as he departed. Two days off followed. Four days later, though, Celta overcame them and so it disintegrates anew.

That it is known that Alonso’s future is under scrutiny is as notable as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be disputed, but it is calculated. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about injuries and unfairness, not even truly persuading himself, Madrid were awful against Celta: a lack of style, a deficient mentality, an absence of tactical shape.

The Coach: The Easiest Target

But the weakest link, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the sporting matters, 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 virtually all his replies. The briefest response he gave might have been the most telling, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the complete roster was behind him, Alonso replied in a single word: “yes.”

“Being Madrid manager is not about changing [the culture]; it is about adapting,” 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 together, 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.”