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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” the manager declared, possibly asserting 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 instalment of a very modern classic. “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.” Losing and things could shift instantly, and definitively: this opportunity is an obligation, too.

Emergency Discussions After Desperate Setback

Following Madrid’s utterly disappointing 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso said he had “formed his own assessments,” and he was not alone. Into the early hours, urgent meetings persisted, the club’s board reaching their own verdicts after a mere one victory in five league games. Their assessments were different and while radical changes are being postponed, patience is finite, the names of potential replacements already circulating. “You have to face those situations but my head’s only on the game, things I can control,” 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 said. “If we lost 2-0 to Celta, there’s a problem that’s on us: it’s not the coach’s fault.”

A Quick Decline After Initial Success

City will be his twenty-eighth outing in charge of Madrid and it may prove to be his farewell at a club where a state of emergency is always just two losses around the corner, where even ties are unacceptable, and there’s always someone else who can coach. Things have indeed shifted swiftly, even if the seeds of the problem were there from the start. Hailed as a systems coach, the ideal solution after a season of laissez-faire and failure, Alonso was counter-cultural at a star-driven institution.

When Madrid won the clásico in late October, they moved five points ahead 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 stormed off down the tunnel, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a missive a few days later he said sorry to all but Alonso. Institutionally, rather than reinforcing the manager, there was silence.

Strains Emerging

Internally, the assessment was clear: Alonso shouldn’t have taken Vinícius off. Pressed on the issue if he would make the same call, Alonso answered: “The intent behind that question eludes me. When a situation on the pitch demands a choice, I make it.” Strains had been brought to the surface, a disconnect between trainer and a portion of the team. Federico Valverde too had expressed his irritation publicly. The pieces weren’t fitting as they should. A familiar lament began to surface about all the orders, the video analysis, the long sessions. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Over a week after the clásico, Madrid were beaten by Liverpool, starting a sequence of two wins in seven. When adopting a straightforward approach, they defeated 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 mask the problems, to restore tranquility. Focus was directed at the footballers for the first time.

A Short-Lived Truce

In Bilbao, where they had been brought together a day early, it seemed some middle ground had been established; Alonso meeting their needs more than they did his. A thawing of relations was displayed when Vinícius hugged the coach as he departed. Two days off followed. A few days after, 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 denied, but it is calculated. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about fitness issues and injustice, not even truly believing his own words, Madrid were dreadful against Celta: a lack of style, poor commitment, no structure.

The Gaffer: The Simplest Fix

But the weakest link, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the on-pitch performance, 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 telling, 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 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 alone that Alonso talked of a team, a club, that goes together, and when attention was turned to the question of endorsement or the deficit from above, he commented: “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.”