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“We are a united club, a team, and we all move forward together,” the Real Madrid coach stated emphatically, perhaps 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 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 change immediately, and definitively: this chance is an imperative, too.

Urgent Meetings After Desperate Home Defeat

Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 setback on Sunday, Alonso stated he had “formed his own assessments,” and he was not alone. Into the early hours, crisis talks continued, the club’s leadership reaching their own verdicts after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their analyses were not the same and while severe measures are being postponed, patience is finite, the names of candidates already out. “These are scenarios you must deal with, yet my mind is fixed only on the game, on what I can influence,” Alonso stated in the press conference

“Certainly the trainer devised an effective approach, but when it comes down to it, the players execute on the field,” the French midfielder remarked. “Losing by two goals to Celta points to a deficiency in our performance, not the coach's planning.”

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 never more than a couple of defeats away, where even ties are unacceptable, and there’s invariably another candidate who can coach. Things have indeed evolved rapidly, even if the roots of the crisis were there from the start. Sold as a tactical disciplinarian, precisely the required remedy after a season of laissez-faire and failure, Alonso was a cultural shock at a star-driven institution.

When Madrid triumphed in El Clásico in late October, they opened a five-point gap at the top. They had won 12 of 13 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, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a missive a few days later he said sorry to all but Alonso. At the executive level, rather than reinforcing the manager, there was radio silence.

Strains Coming to Light

Behind the scenes, the verdict was clear: Alonso shouldn’t have taken Vinícius off. Questioned on this point 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 exposed, a separation between trainer and a portion of the team. Federico Valverde too had voiced his discontent openly. The pieces weren’t fitting as they should. A typical grievance began to slip out about all the orders, the film sessions, the extended practices. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Nine days after the clásico, Madrid were overcome at Liverpool, beginning a run of two wins in seven. When adopting a straightforward approach, they defeated Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those were held by Rayo, Elche and Girona. Eventually, talks were held to fix fault lines or at least mask the problems, to establish peace. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time.

A Temporary Rapprochement

In Bilbao, where they had been gathered a day early, it seemed some agreement had been reached; Alonso meeting their needs more than they did his. Rapprochement was orchestrated when Vinícius embraced the coach as he departed. A brief break followed. A few days after, though, Celta defeated them and so it falls apart once more.

That it is known that Alonso’s future is on the line is as notable as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be disputed, but it is intentional. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about player absences and bad luck, not even truly believing his own words, Madrid were terrible against Celta: no identity, a deficient mentality, an absence of tactical shape.

The Coach: The Simplest Fix

But the simplest fix, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the sporting matters, was the central theme to this game. However much the man who is still Madrid’s manager kept trying to refocus on the match, which he did with virtually all his replies. The briefest response he gave might have been the most revealing, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the complete roster 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 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 collective, a club, that goes in unison, 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.”