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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” Xabi Alonso declared, maybe asserting a tad forcefully. “Being the manager of Real Madrid means you are always prepared,” he continued on the day before Manchester City step back into the Santiago Bernabéu for a new instalment of a very modern classic. “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”. Failure and things could shift instantly, and permanently: this chance is an imperative, too.

Crisis Talks After Poor Setback

Following Madrid’s utterly disappointing 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso revealed he had “reached some conclusions,” and he was in plentiful company. Into the early hours, crisis talks persisted, the club’s board forming their own opinions after a single win in five league games. Their assessments were not the same and while drastic decisions are being postponed, tolerance has limits, the names of candidates already circulating. “You have to face those situations but my head’s only on the game, things I can control,” 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 stated. “If we lost 2-0 to Celta, there’s a problem that’s on us: it’s not the coach’s fault.”

A Rapid Deterioration After Initial Success

City will be his twenty-eighth match in charge of Madrid and it may prove to be his farewell at a club where a turmoil is never more than a couple of defeats away, where even sharing points is insufficient, and there’s perpetually an alternative who can coach. Things have indeed shifted swiftly, even if the roots of the crisis were there from the start. Presented as a systems coach, precisely the required remedy after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was an anomaly at a star-driven institution.

When Madrid secured victory against Barcelona in late October, they opened a five-point gap at the top. They had secured twelve victories in thirteen competitive games, although the defeat was emphatic: 5-2 at Atlético. It also highlighted flaws. Replaced in the 72nd minute, Vinícius Júnior stormed off down the tunnel, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a letter a few days later he expressed regret to all apart from Alonso. At the executive level, rather than supporting the trainer, there was silence.

Frictions Emerging

Within the dressing room, the conclusion was clear: Alonso shouldn’t have taken Vinícius off. Asked here 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.” Tensions 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 typical grievance began to surface about all the orders, the video analysis, the long sessions. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Nine days 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 were held by Rayo, Elche and Girona. After a delay, talks were held to mend divisions or at least mask the problems, to bring calm. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time.

A Fragile Reconciliation

In Bilbao, where they had been brought together a day early, it seemed some compromise had been found; Alonso accommodating their demands more than they did his. A thawing of relations was staged when Vinícius hugged the 44-year-old as he departed. A brief break followed. Four days later, though, Celta defeated them and so it unravels again.

That it is known that Alonso’s future is in doubt is as important 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 injuries and unfairness, not even truly persuading himself, Madrid were dreadful against Celta: no identity, no attitude, no structure.

The Manager: The Easiest Target

But the most vulnerable point, 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 redirect attention to the match, which he did with almost every response. The shortest answer he gave might have been the most significant, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the entire team was behind him, Alonso replied in a one word: “yes.”

“Managing Real Madrid doesn't involve transforming the culture; it requires fitting in,” 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 isolated that Alonso talked of a team, a club, that goes in unison, and when attention was turned to the question of backing or its absence from above, he commented: “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.”