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“We are a collective, a single entity, and we are all in this as one,” the Real Madrid coach declared, maybe affirming a tad forcefully. “If you coach Real Madrid, you are prepared for anything,” he continued on the day before Pep Guardiola's side step back into the Santiago Bernabéu for another instalment 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”. A defeat and things could alter for good, and for good: this moment is an duty, too.

Crisis Talks After Desperate Setback

Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso revealed he had “drawn conclusions,” and he was not alone. Late into the night, urgent meetings carried on, the club’s leadership reaching their own verdicts after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their analyses were different and while drastic decisions are being postponed, forbearance is running out, the names of candidates already circulating. “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,” one of the squad's leaders said. “A 2-0 defeat to Celta indicates an issue that lies with us, not the manager.”

A Quick Deterioration After Early Promise

City will be his twenty-eighth match in charge of Madrid and it might be his final one 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 changed fast, even if the seeds of the problem were there from the start. Presented as a systems coach, exactly what they needed after a season of laissez-faire and failure, Alonso was a cultural shock at a players’ club.

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. Substituted on 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior marched straight down the tunnel, reportedly threatening to leave the club. In a missive a few days later he said sorry to all but Alonso. Institutionally, rather than reinforcing the manager, there was a conspicuous quiet.

Tensions Coming to Light

Within the dressing room, the conclusion was clear: Alonso ought not to have substituted Vinícius off. Asked here if he would make the same call, Alonso replied: “I am unsure of the purpose of that query. If, in the moment, I believe a decision is required on the field, I will make it.” Tensions had been exposed, a disconnect between coach and some players. Federico Valverde too had made his frustrations public. The components weren't meshing as they should. A familiar lament began to emerge about all the instructions, the videos, the long sessions. 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. When adopting a straightforward approach, they beat Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those drew at Rayo, Elche and Girona. Belatedly, talks were held to repair cracks or at least mask the problems, to establish peace. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time.

A Short-Lived Truce

In Bilbao, where they had been gathered a day early, it seemed some agreement had been reached; Alonso accommodating their demands more than they did his. Reconciliation was orchestrated when Vinícius hugged the coach as he departed. Two days off followed. Four days later, though, Celta defeated them and so it unravels again.

That it is public knowledge that Alonso’s future is in doubt is as notable 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 injuries and unfairness, not even truly believing his own words, Madrid were terrible against Celta: an absence of character, poor commitment, no structure.

The Gaffer: The Most Obvious Solution

But the simplest fix, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the actual football, 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 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 complete roster was behind him, Alonso replied in a solitary term: “yes.”

“Being Madrid manager is not about changing [the culture]; it is about adapting,” Alonso added. “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 by himself that Alonso talked of a unit, 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 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.”