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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” Xabi Alonso stated emphatically, maybe affirming a little too much. “If you coach Real Madrid, you are prepared for anything,” he added on the day before the English champions step back into the Santiago Bernabéu for the latest meeting 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”. A defeat and things could shift instantly, and permanently: this opportunity is an obligation, too.

Crisis Talks After Dismal Setback

Following Madrid’s utterly disappointing 2-0 setback on Sunday, Alonso said he had “reached some conclusions,” and he was not alone. Into the early hours, urgent meetings continued, the club’s board drawing their own conclusions after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their assessments were not the same and while severe measures are temporarily shelved, patience is finite, the names of possible successors already circulating. “One must confront such circumstances, but my focus is solely on the match, on elements within my power,” Alonso commented

“Certainly the trainer devised an effective approach, but when it comes down to it, the players execute on the field,” 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 Success

City will be his 28th game in charge of Madrid and it could be his last at a club where a turmoil is perpetually looming after a few setbacks, where even sharing points is insufficient, and there’s invariably another candidate who can coach. Things have indeed changed fast, even if the origins of the trouble were there from the start. Hailed as a structured planner, the ideal solution after a season of lack of discipline and disappointment, Alonso was counter-cultural at a star-driven institution.

When Madrid triumphed in El Clásico in late October, they established a five-point lead at the top. They had won 12 of 13 competitive games, although the setback was significant: 5-2 at Atlético. It also revealed cracks. Replaced in the 72nd minute, Vinícius Júnior headed directly for the dressing room, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a missive a few days later he expressed regret to all apart from Alonso. From the club's leadership, rather than backing the coach, there was radio silence.

Strains Emerging

Internally, the assessment was clear: Alonso was wrong to remove Vinícius off. Asked here if he would repeat that decision, 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.” Strains had been laid bare, a disconnect between coach and some players. 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 orders, the film sessions, the lengthy training. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

More than 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 tied with Rayo, Elche and Girona. After a delay, talks were held to fix fault lines or at least paper over the issues, to bring calm. Focus shifted to the footballers for the first time.

A Fragile Reconciliation

In Bilbao, where they had been brought together a day early, it seemed some agreement had been reached; Alonso yielding to their requests more than they did his. Reconciliation was orchestrated when Vinícius hugged the coach as he departed. Two days off followed. A few days after, though, Celta defeated them and so it disintegrates anew.

That it is understood that Alonso’s future is under scrutiny is as notable as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be denied, but it is intentional. 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, a deficient mentality, no structure.

The Gaffer: The Easiest Target

But the weakest link, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the on-pitch performance, overshadowed the preparation 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 almost every response. The shortest answer he gave might have been the most revealing, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the entire team was behind him, Alonso replied in a one word: “yes.”

“Being Madrid manager is not about changing [the culture]; it is about adapting,” Alonso continued. “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 alone that Alonso talked of a team, a club, that goes hand in hand, and when attention was turned to the question of backing or its absence from above, he answered: “Dialogue with the leadership is ongoing, founded on trust, togetherness, and mutual respect. We are all united in this endeavor. We are psychologically prepared for any challenge: the squad is unified, certain of victory tomorrow, without a shadow of doubt. This is the Champions League. We are playing at the Bernabéu. The environment will be electric. That generates a unique dynamism, even among the players.”