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“We are a united club, a team, and we all move forward together,” Xabi Alonso declared, maybe protesting a little too much. “If you coach Real Madrid, you are prepared for anything,” he added on the eve before the English champions step back into the Santiago Bernabéu for a new meeting of a contemporary rivalry. “I anticipate the challenge ahead, starting tomorrow—an opening to redirect the disappointment. Our minds are fixed solely on City. Football, for better or worse, is a game of swift changes.” A defeat and things could shift instantly, and for good: this opportunity is an obligation, too.

Emergency Discussions After Desperate Setback

Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 loss at their own stadium on Sunday, Alonso said he had “drawn conclusions,” and he was far from the only one. Long after the final whistle, urgent meetings carried on, the club’s hierarchy drawing their own conclusions after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their assessments were not the same and while radical changes are temporarily shelved, tolerance has limits, the names of candidates already circulating. “One must confront such circumstances, but my focus is solely on the match, on elements within my power,” Alonso commented

“For sure the coach had a good plan but, in the end we, the players, are the ones on the pitch,” the French midfielder remarked. “A 2-0 defeat to Celta indicates an issue that lies with us, not the manager.”

A Quick Deterioration After Early Promise

City will be his twenty-eighth match in charge of Madrid and it may prove to be his farewell at a club where a crisis is always just two losses around the corner, where even ties are unacceptable, and there’s perpetually an alternative who can coach. Things have indeed evolved rapidly, even if the roots of the crisis were there from the start. Presented as a structured planner, precisely the required remedy after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was an anomaly at a players’ club.

When Madrid won the clásico in late October, they opened a five-point gap at the top. They had secured twelve victories in thirteen competitive games, although the defeat was emphatic: 5-2 at Atlético. It also exposed fissures. Replaced in the 72nd minute, Vinícius Júnior marched straight down the tunnel, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a letter a few days later he expressed regret to all apart from Alonso. From the club's leadership, rather than reinforcing the manager, there was silence.

Frictions Brought to the Surface

Behind the scenes, the verdict was obvious: Alonso was wrong to remove Vinícius off. Pressed on the issue if he would repeat that decision, 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 laid bare, a disconnect between coach and some players. Federico Valverde too had voiced his discontent openly. The pieces weren’t fitting as they should. A familiar lament began to slip out about all the instructions, the video analysis, the lengthy training. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Over a week after the clásico, Madrid were beaten by Liverpool, initiating a spell 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 mask the problems, to bring calm. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time.

A Fragile Reconciliation

In Bilbao, where they had been gathered a day early, it seemed some agreement had been established; Alonso accommodating their demands more than they did his. Reconciliation was staged when Vinícius embraced the coach as he departed. Two days off followed. Subsequently, though, Celta beat them and so it disintegrates anew.

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 rebutted, but it is deliberate. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about player absences and unfairness, not even truly believing his own words, Madrid were awful against Celta: a lack of style, a deficient mentality, 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 sporting matters, dominated the buildup to this game. However much the man who is still Madrid’s manager kept trying to refocus on the match, which he did with almost every response. The briefest response 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 understand the ethos of Real Madrid thoroughly; it's what makes it the globe's greatest club. One must adjust, absorb knowledge, engage with the squad. Certain days bring success, others less so. We must confront this with vigor and optimism; it's the sole path to reversal.”

It was when he was asked if he felt by himself that Alonso talked of a collective, a club, that goes hand in hand, and when attention was turned to the question of endorsement or the deficit from above, he replied: “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.”