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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” Xabi Alonso stated emphatically, perhaps asserting somewhat excessively. “Being the manager of Real Madrid means you are always prepared,” he added on the day before Manchester City step back into the Santiago Bernabéu for a new 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.” Failure and things could alter for good, and permanently: this opportunity is an duty, too.

Crisis Talks After Desperate Loss at the Bernabéu

Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso said he had “drawn conclusions,” and he was far from the only one. Late into the night, emergency discussions continued, the club’s leadership forming their own opinions after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their analyses were not the same and while drastic decisions are temporarily shelved, forbearance is running out, the names of potential replacements already out. “You have to face those situations but my head’s only on the game, things I can control,” Alonso said here

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

A Rapid Decline After Early Success

City will be his twenty-eighth match in charge of Madrid and it might be his final one at a club where a turmoil 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 evolved rapidly, even if the roots of the crisis were there from the start. Sold as a tactical disciplinarian, the ideal solution after a season of laissez-faire and failure, Alonso was an anomaly at a players’ club.

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. Substituted on 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior headed directly for the dressing room, seemingly ready to quit the club. In a missive a few days later he said sorry to all but Alonso. From the club's leadership, rather than reinforcing the manager, there was radio silence.

Tensions Brought to the Surface

Internally, the conclusion was obvious: Alonso ought not to have substituted Vinícius off. Questioned on this point if he would repeat that decision, Alonso answered: “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 rift between manager and certain squad members. Federico Valverde too had expressed his irritation publicly. The components weren't meshing as they should. A typical grievance began to emerge about all the directives, the videos, the extended practices. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

More than a week after the clásico, Madrid were defeated at Anfield, starting a sequence of two wins in seven. Able to play direct, 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 mask the problems, to bring calm. Focus shifted to the footballers for the first time.

A Fragile 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 staged when Vinícius greeted the coach as he departed. A couple of days' rest followed. Four days later, though, Celta overcame them and so it disintegrates anew.

That it is known that Alonso’s future is on the line is as important as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be denied, but it is intentional. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about player absences and injustice, not even truly persuading himself, Madrid were terrible against Celta: an absence of character, no attitude, no structure.

The Manager: The Easiest Target

But the weakest link, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the on-pitch performance, 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 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 whole squad was behind him, Alonso replied in a solitary term: “yes.”

“Managing Real Madrid doesn't involve transforming the culture; it requires fitting in,” Alonso continued. “The culture of Real Madrid is well-known to us; it's the reason for its status as the world's premier club. Adaptation, continuous learning, and player communication are key. There will be highs and lows. Meeting challenges with drive and a positive mindset is the only route to improvement.”

It was when he was asked if he felt alone that Alonso talked of a unit, a club, that goes hand in hand, 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.”