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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” the manager declared, perhaps affirming somewhat excessively. “When you’re Real Madrid coach you’re ready,” he continued on the eve before the English champions return to the Santiago Bernabéu for the latest meeting of a frequent heavyweight clash. “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 definitively: this chance is an duty, too.

Emergency Discussions After Poor Setback

Following Madrid’s utterly disappointing 2-0 loss at their own stadium on Sunday, Alonso said he had “drawn conclusions,” and he was not alone. Into the early hours, crisis talks carried on, the club’s board forming their own opinions after a single win in five league games. Their analyses were different and while severe measures remain on hold, forbearance is running out, the names of candidates already out. “These are scenarios you must deal with, yet my mind is fixed only on the game, on what I can influence,” Alonso said here

“For sure the coach had a good plan but, in the end we, the players, are the ones on the pitch,” Aurélien Tchouaméni stated. “If we lost 2-0 to Celta, there’s a problem that’s on us: it’s not the coach’s fault.”

A Swift Decline 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 crisis is never more than a couple of defeats away, where even draws will not do, and there’s always someone else who can coach. Things have indeed changed fast, even if the roots of the crisis were there from the start. Hailed as a systems coach, the ideal solution after a season of laissez-faire and failure, Alonso was a cultural shock at a squad-centric organization.

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 revealed cracks. Taken off after 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior marched straight down the tunnel, seemingly ready to quit the club. In a letter a few days later he expressed regret to all apart from Alonso. From the club's leadership, rather than supporting the trainer, there was silence.

Frictions Coming to Light

Within the dressing room, the conclusion was obvious: Alonso shouldn’t have taken Vinícius off. Asked here if he would make the same call, Alonso responded: “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 disconnect between manager and certain squad members. Federico Valverde too had voiced his discontent openly. The pieces weren’t fitting as they should. A common complaint began to slip out about all the instructions, the video analysis, the extended practices. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

More than a week after the clásico, Madrid were overcome at Liverpool, beginning a run of two wins in seven. Able to play direct, they defeated Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those tied with Rayo, Elche and Girona. Belatedly, talks were held to mend divisions or at least mask the problems, to restore tranquility. Focus shifted to the footballers for the first time.

A Temporary Rapprochement

In Bilbao, where they had been gathered a day early, it seemed some middle ground had been established; Alonso accommodating their demands more than they did his. Rapprochement was orchestrated when Vinícius greeted the coach as he departed. A brief break followed. Subsequently, though, Celta beat them and so it unravels again.

That it is known that Alonso’s future is on the line is as notable as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be denied, but it is calculated. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about fitness issues and bad luck, not even truly persuading himself, Madrid were awful against Celta: a lack of style, a deficient mentality, a lack of organization.

The Manager: The Most Obvious Solution

But the simplest fix, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the sporting matters, dominated the buildup 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 almost every response. The shortest answer he gave might have been the most revealing, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the whole squad 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. “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 collective, a club, that goes together, 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.”