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“We are a united club, a team, and we all move forward together,” Xabi Alonso stated emphatically, perhaps protesting somewhat excessively. “Being the manager of Real Madrid means you are always prepared,” he continued on the eve before Pep Guardiola's side visit once more the Santiago Bernabéu for the latest instalment 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.” Losing and things could alter for good, and permanently: this chance is an obligation, too.

Emergency Discussions After Dismal Loss at the Bernabéu

Following Madrid’s woefully inadequate 2-0 setback on Sunday, Alonso said he had “drawn conclusions,” and he was far from the only one. Into the early hours, emergency discussions continued, the club’s board forming their own opinions after a single win in five league games. Their diagnoses were different and while severe measures remain on hold, tolerance has limits, the names of possible successors already circulating. “These are scenarios you must deal with, yet my mind is fixed only on the game, on what I can influence,” Alonso said here

“Certainly the trainer devised an effective approach, but when it comes down to it, the players execute on the field,” Aurélien Tchouaméni remarked. “A 2-0 defeat to Celta indicates an issue that lies with us, not the manager.”

A Swift Deterioration After Early 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 crisis is never more than a couple of defeats away, where even ties are unacceptable, and there’s always someone else who can coach. Things have indeed shifted swiftly, even if the roots of the crisis were there from the start. Sold as a systems coach, exactly what they needed after a season of lack of discipline and disappointment, Alonso was an anomaly 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 won 12 of 13 competitive games, although the setback was significant: 5-2 at Atlético. It also highlighted flaws. Taken off after 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior stormed off down the tunnel, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a letter a few days later he apologised to everyone except Alonso. Institutionally, rather than backing the coach, there was radio silence.

Strains Coming to Light

Within the dressing room, the assessment was evident: Alonso shouldn’t have taken Vinícius off. Asked here if he would do that again, Alonso replied: “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 separation between manager and certain squad members. Federico Valverde too had voiced his discontent openly. The puzzle pieces weren't aligning as they should. A typical grievance began to slip out about all the directives, the video analysis, the long sessions. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Nine days after the clásico, Madrid were defeated at Anfield, starting a sequence of two wins in seven. When adopting a straightforward approach, they overcame 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 cover cracks, to bring calm. Focus was directed at the footballers for the first time.

A Fragile Truce

In Bilbao, where they had been assembled a day early, it seemed some agreement had been established; Alonso meeting their needs more than they did his. A thawing of relations was staged when Vinícius greeted the coach as he departed. Two days off followed. Subsequently, though, Celta defeated them and so it unravels again.

That it is known that Alonso’s future is under scrutiny 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 bad luck, not even truly believing his own words, Madrid were awful against Celta: an absence of character, no attitude, an absence of tactical shape.

The Manager: 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 refocus on the match, which he did with nearly each answer. The most concise reply he gave might have been the most telling, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the whole squad was behind him, Alonso replied in a solitary term: “yes.”

“Being Madrid manager is not about changing [the culture]; it is about adapting,” Alonso continued. “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 by himself that Alonso talked of a unit, a club, that goes together, and when attention was turned to the question of support or the lack of it 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.”