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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” the Real Madrid coach declared, possibly affirming a little too much. “If you coach Real Madrid, you are prepared for anything,” he added on the eve before Manchester City step back into the Santiago Bernabéu for a new instalment of a contemporary rivalry. “I am eager for what lies ahead, beginning tomorrow, a chance to transform the frustration. Our sole focus is City. In this sport, whether good or bad, situations evolve rapidly.” Losing and things could alter for good, and definitively: this opportunity is an imperative, too.

Urgent Meetings After Poor Loss at the Bernabéu

Following Madrid’s woefully inadequate 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso revealed he had “reached some conclusions,” and he was in plentiful company. Into the early hours, crisis talks persisted, the club’s hierarchy reaching their own verdicts after a mere one victory in five league games. Their analyses were divergent and while severe measures remain on hold, forbearance is running out, the names of candidates already circulating. “You have to face those situations but my head’s only on the game, things I can control,” Alonso said here

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

A Swift Deterioration After Initial Success

City will be his twenty-eighth match in charge of Madrid and it could be his last at a club where a crisis is never more than a couple of defeats away, where even draws will not do, and there’s invariably another candidate who can coach. Things have indeed shifted swiftly, even if the origins of the trouble were there from the start. Sold as a tactical disciplinarian, the ideal solution after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was an anomaly at a star-driven institution.

When Madrid won the clásico in late October, they established a five-point lead at the top. They had secured twelve victories in thirteen competitive games, although the loss had been heavy: 5-2 at Atlético. It also revealed cracks. Substituted on 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior stormed off down the tunnel, 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 radio silence.

Tensions Emerging

Within the dressing room, the assessment was obvious: Alonso was wrong to remove 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.” Strains had been brought to the surface, a rift between manager and certain squad members. Federico Valverde too had expressed his irritation publicly. The pieces weren’t fitting as they should. A common complaint began to slip out about all the orders, the film sessions, the long sessions. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

More than a week after the clásico, Madrid were overcome at Liverpool, initiating a spell of two wins in seven. When adopting a straightforward approach, they overcame Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those tied with Rayo, Elche and Girona. Eventually, talks were held to mend divisions or at least cover cracks, to restore tranquility. Focus was directed at the footballers for the first time.

A Temporary Truce

In Bilbao, where they had been gathered a day early, it seemed some agreement had been found; Alonso meeting their needs more than they did his. Reconciliation was staged when Vinícius greeted the 44-year-old as he departed. Two days off followed. A few days after, though, Celta overcame them and so it unravels again.

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

The Manager: The Simplest Fix

But the simplest fix, 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 refocus on the match, which he did with nearly each answer. 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 solitary term: “yes.”

“Managing Real Madrid doesn't involve transforming the culture; it requires fitting in,” 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 by himself that Alonso talked of a team, a club, that goes in unison, and when attention was turned to the question of endorsement or the deficit from above, he answered: “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.”