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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” the manager stated emphatically, maybe affirming a tad forcefully. “Being the manager of Real Madrid means you are always prepared,” he remarked on the day before Pep Guardiola's side visit once more the Santiago Bernabéu for a new edition of a frequent heavyweight clash. “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.” A defeat and things could alter for good, and definitively: this moment is an imperative, too.

Crisis Talks After Desperate Loss at the Bernabéu

Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 setback on Sunday, Alonso revealed he had “drawn conclusions,” and he was in plentiful company. Long after the final whistle, urgent meetings persisted, the club’s board reaching their own verdicts after a single win in five league games. Their analyses were different and while radical changes are being postponed, forbearance is running out, the names of potential replacements 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

“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. “If we lost 2-0 to Celta, there’s a problem that’s on us: it’s not the coach’s fault.”

A Swift Decline After Early Promise

City will be his twenty-eighth outing in charge of Madrid and it could be his last at a club where a turmoil is perpetually looming after a few setbacks, where even draws will not do, and there’s perpetually an alternative who can coach. Things have indeed shifted swiftly, even if the origins of the trouble were there from the start. Hailed as a systems coach, the ideal solution after a season of laissez-faire and failure, Alonso was an anomaly at a squad-centric organization.

When Madrid secured victory against Barcelona in late October, they established a five-point lead at the top. They had won 12 of 13 competitive games, although the defeat was emphatic: 5-2 at Atlético. It also revealed cracks. Taken off after 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior stormed off down the tunnel, seemingly ready to quit the club. In a letter a few days later he apologised to everyone except Alonso. Institutionally, rather than backing the coach, there was silence.

Frictions Emerging

Internally, the assessment was clear: Alonso was wrong to remove Vinícius off. Questioned on this point 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.” Frictions had been exposed, a rift between trainer and a portion of the team. Federico Valverde too had voiced his discontent openly. The pieces weren’t fitting as they should. A familiar lament began to surface about all the directives, the videos, the lengthy training. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Nine days after the clásico, Madrid were beaten by Liverpool, starting a sequence of two wins in seven. Able to play direct, they beat 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 cover cracks, 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 middle ground had been reached; Alonso meeting their needs more than they did his. Rapprochement was displayed when Vinícius embraced the coach as he departed. A brief break followed. Subsequently, though, Celta beat them and so it falls apart once more.

That it is public knowledge that Alonso’s future is on the line 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 persuading himself, Madrid were awful against Celta: an absence of character, a deficient mentality, no structure.

The Gaffer: The Simplest Fix

But the weakest link, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the on-pitch performance, dominated the buildup to this game. However much the man who is still Madrid’s manager kept trying to refocus on the match, which he did with virtually all his replies. The shortest answer he gave might have been the most significant, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the complete roster was behind him, Alonso replied in a single word: “yes.”

“Being Madrid manager is not about changing [the culture]; it is about adapting,” 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 unit, a club, that goes in unison, and when attention was turned to the question of endorsement or the deficit from above, he answered: “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.”