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“We are a united club, a team, and we all move forward together,” the Real Madrid coach insisted, perhaps protesting somewhat excessively. “Being the manager of Real Madrid means you are always prepared,” he remarked on the eve before Pep Guardiola's side step back into the Santiago Bernabéu for a new 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.” A defeat and things could shift instantly, and definitively: this moment is an imperative, too.

Crisis Talks After Poor Home Defeat

Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 setback on Sunday, Alonso revealed he had “reached some conclusions,” and he was in plentiful company. Late into the night, crisis talks continued, the club’s board forming their own opinions after a mere one victory in five league games. Their diagnoses were divergent and while radical changes remain on hold, tolerance has limits, the names of possible successors already in the public domain. “You have to face those situations but my head’s only on the game, things I can control,” Alonso said here

“Certainly the trainer devised an effective approach, but when it comes down to it, the players execute on the field,” Aurélien Tchouaméni said. “If we lost 2-0 to Celta, there’s a problem that’s on us: it’s not the coach’s fault.”

A Rapid Descent After Early Promise

City will be his twenty-eighth match in charge of Madrid and it might be his final one at a club where a crisis is always just two losses around the corner, where even sharing points is insufficient, and there’s perpetually an alternative who can coach. Things have indeed changed fast, even if the seeds of the problem were there from the start. Hailed as a tactical disciplinarian, the ideal solution after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was an anomaly at a players’ club.

When Madrid triumphed in El Clásico in late October, they established a five-point lead at the top. They had secured twelve victories in thirteen competitive games, although the defeat was emphatic: 5-2 at Atlético. It also revealed cracks. Replaced in the 72nd minute, Vinícius Júnior stormed off down the tunnel, reportedly threatening to leave the club. In a missive a few days later he said sorry to all but Alonso. From the club's leadership, rather than supporting the trainer, there was a conspicuous quiet.

Frictions Coming to Light

Within the dressing room, the assessment was obvious: Alonso shouldn’t have taken 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.” Frictions had been brought to the surface, a separation between trainer and a portion of the team. Federico Valverde too had made his frustrations public. The components weren't meshing as they should. A typical grievance began to surface about all the directives, the videos, the extended practices. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Nine days after the clásico, Madrid were overcome at Liverpool, initiating a spell 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. Belatedly, talks were held to repair cracks or at least paper over the issues, to establish peace. Focus shifted to the footballers for the first time.

A Short-Lived Rapprochement

In Bilbao, where they had been assembled a day early, it seemed some compromise had been reached; Alonso meeting their needs more than they did his. Rapprochement was displayed when Vinícius greeted the manager as he departed. A couple of days' rest followed. Four days later, though, Celta defeated them and so it disintegrates anew.

That it is public knowledge that Alonso’s future is under scrutiny is as important as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be denied, but it is calculated. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about player absences and bad luck, not even truly persuading himself, Madrid were dreadful against Celta: an absence of character, a deficient mentality, a lack of organization.

The Gaffer: The Most Obvious Solution

But the weakest link, 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 refocus on the match, which he did with almost every response. The shortest answer he gave might have been the most revealing, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the whole squad was behind him, Alonso replied in a one word: “yes.”

“Managing Real Madrid doesn't involve transforming the culture; it requires fitting in,” Alonso stated. “The culture of Real Madrid is well-known to us; it's the reason for its status as the world's premier club. Adaptation, continuous learning, and player communication are key. There will be highs and lows. Meeting challenges with drive and a positive mindset is the only route to improvement.”

It was when he was asked if he felt isolated that Alonso talked of a collective, a club, that goes in unison, and when attention was turned to the question of backing or its absence 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.”