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“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” Xabi Alonso stated emphatically, possibly protesting a little too much. “When you’re Real Madrid coach you’re ready,” he added on the morning before the English champions step back into the Santiago Bernabéu for a new instalment 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.” Losing and things could shift instantly, and permanently: this chance is an imperative, too.

Emergency Discussions After Poor Setback

Following Madrid’s woefully inadequate 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso revealed he had “formed his own assessments,” and he was far from the only one. Late into the night, crisis talks continued, the club’s hierarchy forming their own opinions after a single win in five league games. Their assessments were not the same and while drastic decisions are being postponed, forbearance is running out, the names of possible successors 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 said. “A 2-0 defeat to Celta indicates an issue that lies with us, not the manager.”

A Rapid Decline After Initial Success

City will be his 28th game 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 ties are unacceptable, and there’s invariably another candidate who can coach. Things have indeed shifted swiftly, even if the seeds of the problem were there from the start. Hailed as a systems coach, precisely the required remedy after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was an anomaly at a squad-centric organization.

When Madrid secured victory against Barcelona in late October, they opened a five-point gap at the top. They had secured twelve victories in thirteen competitive games, although the loss had been heavy: 5-2 at Atlético. It also highlighted flaws. Replaced in the 72nd minute, Vinícius Júnior marched straight down the tunnel, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a letter a few days later he said sorry to all but Alonso. At the executive level, rather than reinforcing the manager, there was radio silence.

Tensions Coming to Light

Within the dressing room, the verdict was clear: Alonso ought not to have substituted Vinícius off. Questioned on this point if he would repeat that decision, Alonso answered: “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.” Frictions had been laid bare, a rift between manager and certain squad members. Federico Valverde too had voiced his discontent openly. The puzzle pieces weren't aligning as they should. A typical grievance began to slip out about all the orders, the videos, 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. Capable of a more direct style, they overcame 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 bring calm. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time.

A Short-Lived Reconciliation

In Bilbao, where they had been brought together a day early, it seemed some compromise had been found; Alonso yielding to their requests more than they did his. Reconciliation was staged when Vinícius hugged the manager as he departed. A brief break followed. Four days later, though, Celta overcame 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 rebutted, but it is calculated. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about fitness issues and unfairness, not even truly believing his own words, Madrid were awful against Celta: a lack of style, a deficient mentality, no structure.

The Coach: The Most Obvious Solution

But the most vulnerable point, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the on-pitch performance, overshadowed the preparation 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 briefest response 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.”

“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 alone that Alonso talked of a collective, a club, that goes together, and when attention was turned to the question of support or the lack of it 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.”