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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” Xabi Alonso stated emphatically, possibly asserting a tad forcefully. “When you’re Real Madrid coach you’re ready,” he continued on the morning before the English champions visit once more the Santiago Bernabéu for the latest 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 alter for good, and permanently: this moment is an duty, too.

Urgent Meetings After Desperate Home Defeat

Following Madrid’s utterly disappointing 2-0 loss at their own stadium on Sunday, Alonso revealed he had “reached some conclusions,” and he was in plentiful company. Long after the final whistle, urgent meetings continued, the club’s leadership forming their own opinions after a mere one victory in five league games. Their diagnoses were divergent and while radical changes remain on hold, patience is finite, the names of possible successors already circulating. “One must confront such circumstances, but my focus is solely on the match, on elements within my power,” Alonso said here

“Undoubtedly the manager prepared a solid strategy, but ultimately, we the footballers are the ones performing,” one of the squad's leaders remarked. “Losing by two goals to Celta points to a deficiency in our performance, not the coach's planning.”

A Rapid Decline After Initial Success

City will be his 28th game in charge of Madrid and it could be his last at a club where a state of emergency is always just two losses around the corner, where even sharing points is insufficient, and there’s always someone else who can coach. Things have indeed changed fast, even if the seeds of the problem were there from the start. Presented as a tactical disciplinarian, the ideal solution after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was counter-cultural at a players’ club.

When Madrid secured victory against Barcelona in late October, they established a five-point lead at the top. They had triumphed in twelve out of thirteen competitive games, although the loss had been heavy: 5-2 at Atlético. It also exposed fissures. Taken off after 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior stormed off down the tunnel, reportedly threatening to leave the club. In a missive a few days later he apologised to everyone except Alonso. From the club's leadership, rather than backing the coach, there was silence.

Tensions Brought to the Surface

Within the dressing room, the verdict was obvious: Alonso ought not to have substituted Vinícius off. Asked here if he would make the same call, Alonso replied: “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 separation between coach and some players. Federico Valverde too had expressed his irritation publicly. The components weren't meshing as they should. A familiar lament began to emerge about all the directives, the video analysis, the lengthy training. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

More than a week after the clásico, Madrid were defeated at Anfield, beginning a run of two wins in seven. Capable of a more direct style, they beat 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 paper over the issues, to bring calm. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time.

A Short-Lived Truce

In Bilbao, where they had been brought together a day early, it seemed some agreement had been established; Alonso yielding to their requests more than they did his. A thawing of relations was orchestrated when Vinícius embraced the manager as he departed. A couple of days' rest followed. Subsequently, though, Celta overcame them and so it disintegrates anew.

That it is public knowledge that Alonso’s future is in doubt is as notable 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 fitness issues and injustice, not even truly believing his own words, Madrid were terrible against Celta: an absence of character, a deficient mentality, an absence of tactical shape.

The Manager: The Easiest Target

But the most vulnerable point, 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 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 solitary term: “yes.”

“The role of Real Madrid coach isn't to alter the culture; it is to adjust,” Alonso stated. “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 isolated that Alonso talked of a collective, a club, that goes hand in hand, and when attention was turned to the question of backing or its absence 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.”