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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” the Real Madrid coach insisted, possibly asserting a tad forcefully. “If you coach Real Madrid, you are prepared for anything,” he added on the eve before Manchester City return to the Santiago Bernabéu for a new instalment of a frequent heavyweight clash. “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.” Failure and things could alter for good, and permanently: this moment is an imperative, too.

Crisis Talks After Desperate Setback

Following Madrid’s utterly disappointing 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso stated he had “reached some conclusions,” and he was not alone. Into the early hours, crisis talks carried on, the club’s board reaching their own verdicts after a mere one victory in five league games. Their diagnoses were not the same and while severe measures are temporarily shelved, tolerance has limits, the names of candidates already in the public domain. “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,” the French midfielder remarked. “A 2-0 defeat to Celta indicates an issue that lies with us, not the manager.”

A Rapid Descent 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 perpetually looming after a few setbacks, where even sharing points is insufficient, and there’s invariably another candidate who can coach. Things have indeed evolved rapidly, even if the origins of the trouble were there from the start. Hailed as a tactical disciplinarian, the ideal solution after a season of lack of discipline and disappointment, Alonso was an anomaly at a star-driven institution.

When Madrid secured victory against Barcelona 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 exposed fissures. Substituted on 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior headed directly for the dressing room, seemingly ready to quit the club. In a missive a few days later he said sorry to all but Alonso. At the executive level, rather than backing the coach, there was a conspicuous quiet.

Strains Emerging

Internally, the verdict was evident: Alonso shouldn’t have taken Vinícius off. Asked here if he would make the same call, Alonso responded: “I am unsure of the purpose of that query. If, in the moment, I believe a decision is required on the field, I will make it.” Strains had been laid bare, a disconnect between coach and some players. Federico Valverde too had made his frustrations public. The puzzle pieces weren't aligning as they should. A typical grievance began to slip out about all the orders, the video analysis, the extended practices. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

More than a week after the clásico, Madrid were beaten by 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 fix fault lines or at least paper over the issues, to restore tranquility. Focus was directed at the footballers for the first time.

A Temporary Reconciliation

In Bilbao, where they had been brought together a day early, it seemed some compromise had been reached; Alonso meeting their needs more than they did his. Rapprochement was orchestrated when Vinícius hugged the manager as he departed. A brief break followed. Four days later, though, Celta beat them and so it disintegrates anew.

That it is known 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 intentional. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about fitness issues and injustice, not even truly persuading himself, Madrid were awful against Celta: an absence of character, a deficient mentality, no structure.

The Gaffer: The Easiest Target

But the most vulnerable point, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the sporting matters, overshadowed the preparation to this game. However much the man who is still Madrid’s manager kept trying to redirect attention to 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 single word: “yes.”

“Being Madrid manager is not about changing [the culture]; it is about adapting,” 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 by himself that Alonso talked of a team, a club, that goes hand in hand, 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.”