🔗 Share this article

“We are a united club, a team, and we all move forward together,” Xabi Alonso insisted, maybe protesting somewhat excessively. “Being the manager of Real Madrid means you are always prepared,” he added on the morning before Pep Guardiola's side visit once more the Santiago Bernabéu for a new 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 alter for good, and for good: this opportunity is an obligation, too.

Urgent Meetings After Poor Setback

Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 loss at their own stadium on Sunday, Alonso stated he had “formed his own assessments,” and he was far from the only one. Into the early hours, urgent meetings carried on, the club’s board forming their own opinions after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their diagnoses were divergent and while radical changes remain on hold, 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 stated in the press conference

“For sure the coach had a good plan but, in the end we, the players, are the ones on the pitch,” Aurélien Tchouaméni stated. “A 2-0 defeat to Celta indicates an issue that lies with us, not the manager.”

A Swift Descent After Early Promise

City will be his twenty-eighth match 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 ties are unacceptable, and there’s invariably another candidate who can coach. Things have indeed evolved rapidly, even if the seeds of the problem were there from the start. Presented as a structured planner, exactly what they needed after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was counter-cultural at a players’ club.

When Madrid won the clásico in late October, they established a five-point lead at the top. They had secured twelve victories in thirteen competitive games, although the setback was significant: 5-2 at Atlético. It also revealed cracks. Taken off after 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior marched straight down the tunnel, reportedly threatening to leave the club. In a letter a few days later he expressed regret to all apart from Alonso. Institutionally, rather than supporting the trainer, there was a conspicuous quiet.

Tensions Coming to Light

Internally, the verdict was obvious: Alonso was wrong to remove Vinícius off. Asked here if he would make the same call, Alonso responded: “The intent behind that question eludes me. When a situation on the pitch demands a choice, I make it.” Tensions had been brought to the surface, a separation between coach and some players. Federico Valverde too had made his frustrations public. The puzzle pieces weren't aligning as they should. A common complaint began to surface about all the orders, the videos, the lengthy training. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

More than a week after the clásico, Madrid were defeated at Anfield, beginning a run of two wins in seven. When adopting a straightforward approach, they beat Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those tied with Rayo, Elche and Girona. After a delay, talks were held to mend divisions or at least mask the problems, to establish peace. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time.

A Temporary Reconciliation

In Bilbao, where they had been assembled a day early, it seemed some compromise had been found; Alonso yielding to their requests more than they did his. A thawing of relations was orchestrated when Vinícius hugged the 44-year-old as he departed. A couple of days' rest followed. Subsequently, though, Celta defeated them and so it falls apart once more.

That it is understood that Alonso’s future is under scrutiny is as important as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be disputed, but it is deliberate. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about injuries and injustice, not even truly believing his own words, Madrid were dreadful against Celta: a lack of style, no attitude, an absence of tactical shape.

The Coach: 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 refocus on the match, which he did with almost every response. The most concise reply he gave might have been the most telling, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the complete roster 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 stated. “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 together, and when attention was turned to the question of backing or its absence from above, he replied: “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.”