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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” the manager declared, possibly protesting a little too much. “Being the manager of Real Madrid means you are always prepared,” he remarked on the day before the English champions 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 permanently: this opportunity is an duty, too.

Crisis Talks After Dismal Setback

Following Madrid’s woefully inadequate 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso stated he had “drawn conclusions,” and he was not alone. Late into the night, crisis talks persisted, the club’s board drawing their own conclusions after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their analyses were divergent and while radical changes are being postponed, tolerance has limits, the names of possible successors already out. “One must confront such circumstances, but my focus is solely on the match, on elements within my power,” Alonso said here

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

A Quick Decline After Initial Promise

City will be his twenty-eighth match in charge of Madrid and it might be his final one at a club where a crisis is perpetually looming after a few setbacks, where even ties are unacceptable, and there’s invariably another candidate who can coach. Things have indeed evolved rapidly, even if the seeds of the problem were there from the start. Hailed as a systems coach, precisely the required remedy after a season of laissez-faire and failure, Alonso was an anomaly at a players’ club.

When Madrid secured victory against Barcelona in late October, they moved five points ahead at the top. They had secured twelve victories in thirteen competitive games, although the loss had been heavy: 5-2 at Atlético. It also highlighted flaws. Taken off after 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior marched straight down the tunnel, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a statement a few days later he expressed regret to all apart from Alonso. From the club's leadership, rather than supporting the trainer, there was radio silence.

Strains Emerging

Internally, the assessment was obvious: Alonso shouldn’t have taken Vinícius off. Questioned on this point if he would repeat that decision, Alonso replied: “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 brought to the surface, a separation between coach and some players. Federico Valverde too had expressed his irritation publicly. The pieces weren’t fitting as they should. A typical grievance began to emerge about all the instructions, the video analysis, the extended practices. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Nine days after the clásico, Madrid were overcome at Liverpool, starting a sequence of two wins in seven. Capable of a more direct style, they beat Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those drew at Rayo, Elche and Girona. Eventually, talks were held to fix fault lines or at least mask the problems, to restore tranquility. Focus shifted to the footballers for the first time.

A Fragile Rapprochement

In Bilbao, where they had been assembled a day early, it seemed some compromise had been reached; Alonso meeting their needs more than they did his. A thawing of relations was staged when Vinícius greeted the coach as he departed. A brief break followed. Four days later, though, Celta beat them and so it unravels again.

That it is understood that Alonso’s future is on the line 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 unfairness, not even truly believing his own words, Madrid were dreadful against Celta: an absence of character, poor commitment, a lack of organization.

The Coach: The Most Obvious Solution

But the weakest link, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the sporting matters, was the central theme to this game. However much the man who is still Madrid’s manager kept trying to bring it back to the match, which he did with nearly each answer. The most concise reply he gave might have been the most significant, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the whole squad was behind him, Alonso replied in a single word: “yes.”

“The role of Real Madrid coach isn't to alter the culture; it is to adjust,” 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 isolated that Alonso talked of a unit, a club, that goes together, and when attention was turned to the question of support or the lack of it 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.”