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“We are a collective, a single entity, and we are all in this as one,” Xabi Alonso insisted, possibly affirming 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 another instalment 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.” Losing and things could alter for good, and for good: this moment is an duty, too.

Crisis Talks After Poor Setback

Following Madrid’s utterly disappointing 2-0 setback on Sunday, Alonso stated he had “formed his own assessments,” and he was in plentiful company. Long after the final whistle, urgent meetings carried on, the club’s hierarchy drawing their own conclusions after a single win in five league games. Their analyses were different and while radical changes are being postponed, tolerance has limits, 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 said here

“Undoubtedly the manager prepared a solid strategy, but ultimately, we the footballers are the ones performing,” Aurélien Tchouaméni remarked. “A 2-0 defeat to Celta indicates an issue that lies with us, not the manager.”

A Rapid Decline After Initial Success

City will be his twenty-eighth match in charge of Madrid and it might be his final one at a club where a crisis 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 origins of the trouble were there from the start. Sold as a systems coach, precisely the required remedy after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was counter-cultural at a players’ club.

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 loss had been heavy: 5-2 at Atlético. It also highlighted flaws. Substituted on 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior stormed off down the tunnel, seemingly ready to quit the club. In a missive a few days later he apologised to everyone except Alonso. From the club's leadership, rather than reinforcing the manager, there was a conspicuous quiet.

Frictions Coming to Light

Within the dressing room, the assessment was obvious: Alonso shouldn’t have taken Vinícius off. Asked here 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 laid bare, a separation between manager and certain squad members. Federico Valverde too had made his frustrations public. The pieces weren’t fitting as they should. A common complaint began to slip out about all the directives, the video analysis, the long sessions. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

More than a week after the clásico, Madrid were overcome at Liverpool, beginning a run of two wins in seven. Able to play direct, they overcame Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those were held by Rayo, Elche and Girona. After a delay, talks were held to mend divisions or at least mask the problems, to establish peace. Focus was directed at the footballers for the first time.

A Short-Lived Rapprochement

In Bilbao, where they had been assembled a day early, it seemed some compromise had been reached; Alonso meeting their needs more than they did his. A thawing of relations was displayed when Vinícius greeted the manager as he departed. A couple of days' rest followed. Four days later, though, Celta overcame them and so it falls apart once more.

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 deliberate. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about player absences and bad luck, not even truly convincing himself, Madrid were awful against Celta: an absence of character, no attitude, a lack of organization.

The Coach: The Easiest Target

But the weakest link, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the actual football, overshadowed the preparation 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 shortest answer he gave might have been the most significant, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the whole squad was behind him, Alonso replied in a single word: “yes.”

“Managing Real Madrid doesn't involve transforming the culture; it requires fitting in,” 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 isolated that Alonso talked of a unit, a club, that goes hand in hand, and when attention was turned to the question of endorsement or the deficit from above, he replied: “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.”