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“We are a united club, a team, and we all move forward together,” Xabi Alonso stated emphatically, maybe protesting a tad forcefully. “When you’re Real Madrid coach you’re ready,” he remarked on the day before Manchester City visit once more the Santiago Bernabéu for another meeting 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 shift instantly, and definitively: this opportunity is an obligation, too.

Emergency Discussions After Desperate Loss at the Bernabéu

Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso said he had “reached some conclusions,” and he was in plentiful company. Late into the night, crisis talks continued, the club’s hierarchy drawing their own conclusions after a single win in five league games. Their analyses were divergent and while drastic decisions are being postponed, forbearance is running out, the names of candidates already out. “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

“Certainly the trainer devised an effective approach, but when it comes down to it, the players execute on the field,” one of the squad's leaders said. “A 2-0 defeat to Celta indicates an issue that lies with us, not the manager.”

A Rapid 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 crisis is always just two losses around the corner, where even sharing points is insufficient, and there’s invariably another candidate who can coach. Things have indeed shifted swiftly, even if the origins of the trouble were there from the start. Hailed as a tactical disciplinarian, precisely the required remedy after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was an anomaly at a star-driven institution.

When Madrid triumphed in El Clásico in late October, they moved five points ahead at the top. They had secured twelve victories in thirteen competitive games, although the setback was significant: 5-2 at Atlético. It also exposed fissures. Substituted on 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior headed directly for the dressing room, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a letter a few days later he said sorry to all but Alonso. Institutionally, rather than supporting the trainer, there was radio silence.

Tensions Brought to the Surface

Within the dressing room, the verdict was evident: Alonso was wrong to remove Vinícius off. Pressed on the issue if he would repeat that decision, Alonso answered: “I am unsure of the purpose of that query. If, in the moment, I believe a decision is required on the field, I will make it.” Strains had been laid bare, a separation between manager and certain squad members. Federico Valverde too had voiced his discontent openly. The pieces weren’t fitting as they should. A familiar lament began to slip out about all the directives, the video analysis, the long sessions. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

More than a week after the clásico, Madrid were overcome at Liverpool, starting a sequence of two wins in seven. Able to play direct, they defeated Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those tied with Rayo, Elche and Girona. Belatedly, talks were held to repair cracks or at least mask the problems, to bring calm. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time.

A Fragile Truce

In Bilbao, where they had been brought together a day early, it seemed some middle ground had been established; Alonso accommodating their demands more than they did his. A thawing of relations was orchestrated when Vinícius hugged the coach as he departed. A couple of days' rest followed. A few days after, though, Celta overcame them and so it disintegrates anew.

That it is known that Alonso’s future is under scrutiny is as significant as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be denied, but it is calculated. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about player absences and bad luck, not even truly convincing himself, Madrid were dreadful against Celta: no identity, no attitude, a lack of organization.

The Manager: The Easiest Target

But the weakest link, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the on-pitch performance, 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 revealing, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the entire team was behind him, Alonso replied in a solitary term: “yes.”

“Managing Real Madrid doesn't involve transforming the culture; it requires fitting in,” Alonso added. “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 by himself that Alonso talked of a unit, a club, that goes in unison, and when attention was turned to the question of endorsement or the deficit from above, he replied: “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.”