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“We are a united club, a team, and we all move forward together,” Xabi Alonso declared, perhaps asserting a tad forcefully. “Being the manager of Real Madrid means you are always prepared,” he remarked on the day before the English champions visit once more the Santiago Bernabéu for the latest 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”. A defeat and things could alter for good, and definitively: this chance is an duty, too.

Crisis Talks After Dismal Setback

Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso revealed he had “drawn conclusions,” and he was not alone. Long after the final whistle, crisis talks carried on, the club’s hierarchy drawing their own conclusions 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 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

“Certainly the trainer devised an effective approach, but when it comes down to it, the players execute on the field,” Aurélien Tchouaméni said. “If we lost 2-0 to Celta, there’s a problem that’s on us: it’s not the coach’s fault.”

A Rapid Decline After Initial Promise

City will be his 28th game in charge of Madrid and it could be his last 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 changed fast, even if the roots of the crisis were there from the start. Hailed as a structured planner, precisely the required remedy after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was an anomaly 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 defeat was emphatic: 5-2 at Atlético. It also revealed cracks. Taken off after 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 said sorry to all but Alonso. At the executive level, rather than backing the coach, there was a conspicuous quiet.

Tensions Coming to Light

Internally, the verdict was evident: Alonso was wrong to remove Vinícius off. Asked here if he would make the same call, Alonso responded: “The intent behind that question eludes me. When a situation on the pitch demands a choice, I make it.” Frictions had been brought to the surface, a rift between trainer and a portion of the team. Federico Valverde too had expressed his irritation publicly. The puzzle pieces weren't aligning as they should. A typical grievance began to slip out about all the orders, the video analysis, the extended practices. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

More than a week after the clásico, Madrid were beaten by Liverpool, starting a sequence of two wins in seven. Able to play direct, they overcame Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those drew at Rayo, Elche and Girona. Eventually, talks were held to repair cracks or at least paper over the issues, to restore tranquility. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time.

A Short-Lived Truce

In Bilbao, where they had been assembled a day early, it seemed some compromise had been established; Alonso meeting their needs more than they did his. Rapprochement was displayed when Vinícius embraced the manager as he departed. A couple of days' rest followed. A few days after, though, Celta beat them and so it disintegrates anew.

That it is public knowledge that Alonso’s future is under scrutiny is as significant as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be rebutted, but it is calculated. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about player absences and injustice, not even truly convincing himself, Madrid were terrible against Celta: an absence of character, no attitude, no structure.

The Gaffer: The Easiest Target

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 refocus on the match, which he did with virtually all his replies. The shortest answer he gave might have been the most significant, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the entire team was behind him, Alonso replied in a single word: “yes.”

“Managing Real Madrid doesn't involve transforming the culture; it requires fitting in,” Alonso added. “We know the culture of Real Madrid pretty well; that is why it is the biggest club in the world. You have to adapt, learn a lot, interact with the players. Some days are good, some not so good. We have to face that with energy and positivity, that is the only way to turn things around.”

It was when he was asked if he felt by himself that Alonso talked of a team, a club, that goes in unison, and when attention was turned to the question of backing or its absence 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.”