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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” Xabi Alonso declared, maybe affirming somewhat excessively. “When you’re Real Madrid coach you’re ready,” he continued on the morning before Pep Guardiola's side step back into the Santiago Bernabéu for another 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 alter for good, and for good: this moment is an obligation, too.

Crisis Talks After Desperate Home Defeat

Following Madrid’s woefully inadequate 2-0 setback on Sunday, Alonso stated he had “drawn conclusions,” and he was not alone. Into the early hours, emergency discussions persisted, the club’s hierarchy drawing their own conclusions after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their analyses were different and while radical changes are being postponed, forbearance is running out, 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 commented

“For sure the coach had a good plan but, in the end we, the players, are the ones on the pitch,” one of the squad's leaders stated. “Losing by two goals to Celta points to a deficiency in our performance, not the coach's planning.”

A Rapid Descent After Initial 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 never more than a couple of defeats away, where even draws will not do, and there’s always someone else who can coach. Things have indeed changed fast, even if the seeds of the problem were there from the start. Presented as a structured planner, precisely the required remedy after a season of lack of discipline and disappointment, Alonso was a cultural shock 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 revealed cracks. Substituted on 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior marched straight down the tunnel, 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 a conspicuous quiet.

Tensions Emerging

Within the dressing room, the assessment was obvious: Alonso ought not to have substituted Vinícius off. Asked here if he would do that again, 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 expressed his irritation publicly. The puzzle pieces weren't aligning as they should. A familiar lament began to surface about all the instructions, the videos, 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. When adopting a straightforward approach, they beat Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those drew at Rayo, Elche and Girona. After a delay, talks were held to mend divisions or at least cover cracks, to establish peace. Focus shifted to the footballers for the first time.

A Short-Lived Reconciliation

In Bilbao, where they had been brought together a day early, it seemed some middle ground had been found; Alonso meeting their needs more than they did his. Reconciliation was staged when Vinícius greeted the 44-year-old 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 intentional. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about fitness issues and bad luck, not even truly persuading himself, Madrid were dreadful against Celta: a lack of style, poor commitment, no structure.

The Gaffer: The Simplest Fix

But the simplest fix, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the actual football, was the central theme 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 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 single word: “yes.”

“Being Madrid manager is not about changing [the culture]; it is about adapting,” 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 collective, a club, that goes hand in hand, and when attention was turned to the question of endorsement or the deficit 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.”