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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” the manager insisted, maybe affirming a tad forcefully. “If you coach Real Madrid, you are prepared for anything,” he added on the morning before the English champions step back into the Santiago Bernabéu for the latest meeting of a very modern classic. “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 change immediately, and definitively: this chance is an imperative, too.

Urgent Meetings After Poor Setback

Following Madrid’s woefully inadequate 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso stated he had “reached some conclusions,” and he was far from the only one. Into the early hours, urgent meetings persisted, the club’s leadership reaching their own verdicts after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their diagnoses were not the same and while radical changes remain on hold, forbearance is running out, the names of candidates already out. “One must confront such circumstances, but my focus is solely on the match, on elements within my power,” Alonso said here

“Certainly the trainer devised an effective approach, but when it comes down to it, the players execute on the field,” the French midfielder stated. “Losing by two goals to Celta points to a deficiency in our performance, not the coach's planning.”

A Quick Decline After Early Success

City will be his 28th game in charge of Madrid and it may prove to be his farewell at a club where a crisis is perpetually looming after a few setbacks, where even draws will not do, and there’s always someone else who can coach. Things have indeed shifted swiftly, even if the origins of the trouble were there from the start. Presented as a structured planner, exactly what they needed 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 moved five points ahead at the top. They had secured twelve victories in thirteen competitive games, although the loss had been heavy: 5-2 at Atlético. It also exposed fissures. Substituted on 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior stormed off down the tunnel, seemingly ready to quit the club. In a statement a few days later he expressed regret to all apart from Alonso. Institutionally, rather than backing the coach, there was a conspicuous quiet.

Strains Brought to the Surface

Within the dressing room, the verdict was clear: Alonso was wrong to remove Vinícius off. Asked here if he would make the same call, 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.” Strains had been laid bare, a rift between trainer and a portion of the team. Federico Valverde too had expressed his irritation publicly. The puzzle pieces weren't aligning as they should. A common complaint began to emerge about all the orders, the video analysis, the extended practices. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Nine days after the clásico, Madrid were overcome at Liverpool, starting a sequence of two wins in seven. Capable of a more direct style, 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 mask the problems, to restore tranquility. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time.

A Fragile Rapprochement

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

That it is understood 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 unfairness, not even truly persuading himself, Madrid were terrible against Celta: no identity, no attitude, a lack of organization.

The Gaffer: The Simplest Fix

But the most vulnerable point, 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 bring it back to the match, which he did with nearly each answer. The shortest answer he gave might have been the most significant, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the whole squad was behind him, Alonso replied in a solitary term: “yes.”

“The role of Real Madrid coach isn't to alter the culture; it is to adjust,” 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 team, a club, that goes hand in hand, and when attention was turned to the question of backing or its absence from above, he commented: “Our contact with the board is continuous, stemming from belief, solidarity, and care. We stand as one in this situation. Our mindset is geared to confront all obstacles: the team is cohesive, fully believing we can triumph tomorrow, with absolute certainty. It's the Champions League. The Bernabéu is our stage. The ambiance will be unforgettable. That fosters a distinct vitality, particularly within the squad.”