🔗 Share this article

“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” the manager insisted, perhaps asserting a tad forcefully. “When you’re Real Madrid coach you’re ready,” he added on the morning before the English champions visit once more the Santiago Bernabéu for a new meeting of a frequent heavyweight clash. “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 shift instantly, and permanently: this opportunity is an obligation, too.

Urgent Meetings After Dismal Loss at the Bernabéu

Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso revealed he had “drawn conclusions,” and he was not alone. Long after the final whistle, urgent meetings carried on, the club’s leadership reaching their own verdicts after a single win in five league games. Their analyses were not the same and while drastic decisions are temporarily shelved, tolerance has limits, the names of potential replacements already in the public domain. “One must confront such circumstances, but my focus is solely on the match, on elements within my power,” Alonso said here

“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. “A 2-0 defeat to Celta indicates an issue that lies with us, not the manager.”

A Swift Deterioration After Early Promise

City will be his twenty-eighth outing in charge of Madrid and it may prove to be his farewell at a club where a turmoil 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 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 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 defeat was emphatic: 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 missive a few days later he expressed regret to all apart from Alonso. Institutionally, rather than backing the coach, there was radio silence.

Tensions Coming to Light

Within the dressing room, the assessment was obvious: Alonso ought not to have substituted Vinícius off. Questioned on this point if he would repeat that decision, Alonso replied: “The intent behind that question eludes me. When a situation on the pitch demands a choice, I make it.” Strains had been brought to the surface, a separation between trainer and a portion of the team. Federico Valverde too had expressed his irritation publicly. The components weren't meshing as they should. A common complaint began to emerge about all the directives, the videos, the extended practices. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

More than a week after the clásico, Madrid were beaten by Liverpool, initiating a spell of two wins in seven. Able to play direct, they overcame Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those were held by Rayo, Elche and Girona. Belatedly, talks were held to repair cracks or at least paper over the issues, to bring calm. Focus was directed at the footballers for the first time.

A Fragile Rapprochement

In Bilbao, where they had been gathered a day early, it seemed some agreement had been reached; Alonso meeting their needs more than they did his. Reconciliation was displayed when Vinícius embraced the coach as he departed. A couple of days' rest followed. Four days later, though, Celta overcame them and so it unravels again.

That it is known that Alonso’s future is in doubt is as significant 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 bad luck, not even truly convincing himself, Madrid were terrible against Celta: an absence of character, poor commitment, an absence of tactical shape.

The Coach: The Simplest Fix

But the simplest fix, 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 redirect attention to 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 whole squad was behind him, Alonso replied in a one word: “yes.”

“The role of Real Madrid coach isn't to alter the culture; it is to adjust,” Alonso added. “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 commented: “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.”