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“We are a collective, a single entity, and we are all in this as one,” Xabi Alonso insisted, perhaps affirming a little too much. “When you’re Real Madrid coach you’re ready,” he remarked on the day before Manchester City return to the Santiago Bernabéu for another edition of a very modern classic. “I anticipate the challenge ahead, starting tomorrow—an opening to redirect the disappointment. Our minds are fixed solely on City. Football, for better or worse, is a game of swift changes.” A defeat and things could change immediately, and permanently: this moment is an obligation, too.

Crisis Talks After Desperate Home Defeat

Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso stated he had “reached some conclusions,” and he was far from the only one. Late into the night, crisis talks carried on, the club’s leadership drawing their own conclusions after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their diagnoses were not the same and while severe measures are being postponed, patience is finite, the names of candidates 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 commented

“Undoubtedly the manager prepared a solid strategy, but ultimately, we the footballers are the ones performing,” the French midfielder remarked. “A 2-0 defeat to Celta indicates an issue that lies with us, not the manager.”

A Rapid Descent After Initial Success

City will be his twenty-eighth outing in charge of Madrid and it may prove to be his farewell at a club where a state of emergency 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 roots of the crisis were there from the start. Hailed as a tactical disciplinarian, precisely the required remedy after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was counter-cultural at a squad-centric organization.

When Madrid won the clásico in late October, they established a five-point lead at the top. They had won 12 of 13 competitive games, although the loss had been heavy: 5-2 at Atlético. It also revealed cracks. Replaced in the 72nd minute, Vinícius Júnior stormed off down the tunnel, reportedly threatening to leave 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.

Frictions Emerging

Within the dressing room, the assessment was evident: Alonso ought not to have substituted Vinícius off. Questioned on this point if he would do that again, 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 exposed, a separation 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 instructions, the videos, the long sessions. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Over a week after the clásico, Madrid were beaten by Liverpool, beginning a run 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 repair cracks or at least mask the problems, to bring calm. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time.

A Fragile Truce

In Bilbao, where they had been brought together a day early, it seemed some agreement had been established; Alonso yielding to their requests more than they did his. Rapprochement was staged when Vinícius embraced the coach as he departed. Two days off followed. A few days after, though, Celta beat them and so it unravels again.

That it is public knowledge that Alonso’s future is on the line 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 fitness issues and unfairness, not even truly convincing himself, Madrid were awful against Celta: a lack of style, a deficient mentality, no structure.

The Manager: The Most Obvious Solution

But the most vulnerable point, 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 redirect attention to the match, which he did with nearly each answer. The briefest response he gave might have been the most telling, 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. “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 by himself that Alonso talked of a team, a club, that goes hand in hand, and when attention was turned to the question of endorsement or the deficit 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.”