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“We are a united club, a team, and we all move forward together,” Xabi Alonso insisted, maybe protesting a little too much. “If you coach Real Madrid, you are prepared for anything,” he remarked on the eve before the English champions step back into 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 change immediately, and permanently: this chance is an duty, too.

Urgent Meetings After Dismal Setback

Following Madrid’s woefully inadequate 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso stated he had “drawn conclusions,” and he was in plentiful company. Long after the final whistle, crisis talks continued, the club’s hierarchy forming their own opinions after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their analyses were divergent and while severe measures remain on hold, forbearance is running out, the names of potential replacements already circulating. “You have to face those situations but my head’s only on the game, things I can control,” Alonso stated in the press conference

“Certainly the trainer devised an effective approach, but when it comes down to it, the players execute on the field,” the French midfielder remarked. “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 may prove to be his farewell at a club where a crisis is perpetually looming after a few setbacks, where even ties are unacceptable, 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. Hailed as a systems coach, the ideal solution after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was a cultural shock at a squad-centric organization.

When Madrid won the clásico in late October, they opened a five-point gap at the top. They had won 12 of 13 competitive games, although the defeat was emphatic: 5-2 at Atlético. It also exposed fissures. Taken off after 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior stormed off down the tunnel, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a missive a few days later he apologised to everyone except Alonso. Institutionally, rather than reinforcing the manager, there was silence.

Tensions Coming to Light

Within the dressing room, the conclusion was evident: 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 brought to the surface, a rift between manager and certain squad members. Federico Valverde too had expressed his irritation publicly. The components weren't meshing as they should. A typical grievance began to surface about all the orders, the video analysis, the long sessions. 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. Able to play direct, they beat Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those tied with Rayo, Elche and Girona. Eventually, talks were held to fix fault lines or at least paper over the issues, to restore tranquility. Focus was directed at 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 established; Alonso yielding to their requests more than they did his. A thawing of relations was staged when Vinícius embraced the coach as he departed. A brief break followed. Four days later, though, Celta defeated them and so it unravels again.

That it is understood that Alonso’s future is on the line is as important as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be denied, 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 convincing himself, Madrid were dreadful against Celta: an absence of character, poor commitment, an absence of tactical shape.

The Manager: 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 most concise reply he gave might have been the most telling, 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 added. “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 together, 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.”