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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” Xabi Alonso insisted, possibly affirming a little too much. “When you’re Real Madrid coach you’re ready,” he remarked on the morning before Pep Guardiola's side return to the Santiago Bernabéu for a new instalment of a contemporary rivalry. “I’m looking forward to what’s coming and that starts tomorrow, [an opportunity] to turn round the anger. In our heads, there’s only City. In football, for better or worse, things change quickly”. Losing and things could change immediately, and definitively: this moment is an obligation, too.

Emergency Discussions After Poor Setback

Following Madrid’s utterly disappointing 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso revealed he had “reached some conclusions,” and he was far from the only one. Late into the night, crisis talks carried on, the club’s hierarchy forming their own opinions after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their analyses were not the same and while severe measures are temporarily shelved, patience is finite, the names of potential replacements 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 stated in the press conference

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

A Quick Decline After Early 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 perpetually looming after a few setbacks, where even draws will not do, and there’s perpetually an alternative who can coach. Things have indeed evolved rapidly, even if the origins of the trouble were there from the start. Sold as a tactical disciplinarian, precisely the required remedy after a season of lack of discipline and disappointment, Alonso was a cultural shock at a squad-centric organization.

When Madrid triumphed in El Clásico in late October, they established a five-point lead at the top. They had triumphed in twelve out of thirteen competitive games, although the setback was significant: 5-2 at Atlético. It also revealed cracks. Taken off after 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior headed directly for the dressing room, seemingly ready to quit the club. In a statement a few days later he said sorry to all but Alonso. Institutionally, rather than backing the coach, there was radio silence.

Frictions Emerging

Within the dressing room, the assessment was evident: Alonso was wrong to remove 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.” Frictions had been exposed, a rift between trainer and a portion of the team. Federico Valverde too had made his frustrations public. The pieces weren’t fitting as they should. A common complaint began to surface about all the directives, the film sessions, the extended practices. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Over a week after the clásico, Madrid were overcome at Liverpool, initiating a spell of two wins in seven. Able to play direct, they beat Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those were held by Rayo, Elche and Girona. Eventually, talks were held to mend divisions or at least paper over the issues, to establish peace. Focus was directed at the footballers for the first time.

A Fragile Reconciliation

In Bilbao, where they had been assembled a day early, it seemed some compromise had been reached; Alonso yielding to their requests more than they did his. Reconciliation was orchestrated when Vinícius greeted the coach as he departed. A couple of days' rest followed. A few days after, though, Celta defeated them and so it unravels again.

That it is understood that Alonso’s future is under scrutiny is as notable as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be disputed, 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 convincing himself, Madrid were terrible against Celta: a lack of style, a deficient mentality, an absence of tactical shape.

The Manager: The Simplest Fix

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 refocus on the match, which he did with almost every response. The most concise reply he gave might have been the most significant, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the complete roster was behind him, Alonso replied in a solitary term: “yes.”

“Managing Real Madrid doesn't involve transforming the culture; it requires fitting in,” Alonso stated. “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 isolated that Alonso talked of a unit, a club, that goes together, 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.”