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“We are a collective, a single entity, and we are all in this as one,” the manager stated emphatically, possibly protesting a tad forcefully. “If you coach Real Madrid, you are prepared for anything,” he continued on the morning before Manchester City step back into 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”. Failure and things could change immediately, and definitively: this moment is an duty, too.

Crisis Talks After Dismal Loss at the Bernabéu

Following Madrid’s woefully inadequate 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso said he had “formed his own assessments,” and he was not alone. Long after the final whistle, crisis talks carried on, the club’s hierarchy reaching their own verdicts after a mere one victory in five league games. Their diagnoses were different and while severe measures are being postponed, forbearance is running out, the names of possible successors already in the public domain. “These are scenarios you must deal with, yet my mind is fixed only on the game, on what I can influence,” Alonso said here

“Undoubtedly the manager prepared a solid strategy, but ultimately, we the footballers are the ones performing,” 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 Rapid Decline After Initial Success

City will be his twenty-eighth match in charge of Madrid and it might be his final one at a club where a state of emergency 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 shifted swiftly, even if the roots of the crisis were there from the start. Presented as a tactical disciplinarian, the ideal solution after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was an anomaly at a squad-centric organization.

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 defeat was emphatic: 5-2 at Atlético. It also revealed cracks. Replaced in the 72nd minute, Vinícius Júnior stormed off down the tunnel, 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 reinforcing the manager, there was radio silence.

Frictions Brought to the Surface

Within the dressing room, the assessment was evident: Alonso was wrong to remove Vinícius off. Asked here if he would make the same call, Alonso answered: “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 made his frustrations public. The components weren't meshing as they should. A typical grievance began to slip out about all the directives, the videos, the long sessions. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Nine days after the clásico, Madrid were defeated at Anfield, beginning a run of two wins in seven. Able to play direct, they defeated Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those drew at Rayo, Elche and Girona. Belatedly, talks were held to fix fault lines or at least mask the problems, to establish peace. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time.

A Short-Lived Reconciliation

In Bilbao, where they had been gathered a day early, it seemed some agreement had been found; Alonso meeting their needs more than they did his. Rapprochement was orchestrated when Vinícius greeted the manager as he departed. Two days off followed. A few days after, though, Celta defeated them and so it unravels again.

That it is public knowledge that Alonso’s future is in doubt is as significant as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be rebutted, but it is deliberate. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about fitness issues and injustice, not even truly persuading himself, Madrid were awful against Celta: no identity, poor commitment, an absence of tactical shape.

The Coach: The Most Obvious Solution

But the simplest fix, 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 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 single word: “yes.”

“Being Madrid manager is not about changing [the culture]; it is about adapting,” 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 alone that Alonso talked of a team, a club, that goes hand in hand, and when attention was turned to the question of support or the lack of it 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.”