🔗 Share this article

“We are a united club, a team, and we all move forward together,” Xabi Alonso stated emphatically, perhaps affirming a tad forcefully. “If you coach Real Madrid, you are prepared for anything,” he remarked on the day before Manchester City step back into 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 change immediately, and for good: this moment is an imperative, too.

Crisis Talks After Desperate Home Defeat

Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 loss at their own stadium on Sunday, Alonso revealed he had “drawn conclusions,” and he was in plentiful company. Into the early hours, emergency discussions carried on, the club’s board forming their own opinions after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their assessments were different and while drastic decisions are temporarily shelved, tolerance has limits, the names of candidates already circulating. “These are scenarios you must deal with, yet my mind is fixed only on the game, on what I can influence,” Alonso said here

“Undoubtedly the manager prepared a solid strategy, but ultimately, we the footballers are the ones performing,” the French midfielder stated. “A 2-0 defeat to Celta indicates an issue that lies with us, not the manager.”

A Quick Decline After Early Success

City will be his twenty-eighth outing in charge of Madrid and it could be his last at a club where a turmoil is always just two losses around the corner, where even draws will not do, and there’s always someone else who can coach. Things have indeed evolved rapidly, even if the origins of the trouble were there from the start. Hailed as a tactical disciplinarian, precisely the required remedy after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was a cultural shock at a players’ club.

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 exposed fissures. Substituted on 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior marched straight down the tunnel, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a statement a few days later he said sorry to all but Alonso. At the executive level, rather than supporting the trainer, there was silence.

Frictions Emerging

Behind the scenes, the assessment was obvious: Alonso ought not to have substituted 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.” Strains had been laid bare, a rift between coach and some players. Federico Valverde too had expressed his irritation publicly. The puzzle pieces weren't aligning as they should. A familiar lament began to slip out 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 overcome at Liverpool, beginning a run of two wins in seven. Capable of a more direct style, they beat Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those tied with Rayo, Elche and Girona. Belatedly, talks were held to mend divisions or at least paper over the issues, to establish peace. Focus shifted to the footballers for the first time.

A Fragile Rapprochement

In Bilbao, where they had been brought together a day early, it seemed some middle ground had been found; Alonso accommodating their demands more than they did his. Reconciliation was orchestrated when Vinícius hugged the manager as he departed. A couple of days' rest followed. Four days later, though, Celta defeated them and so it falls apart once more.

That it is understood that Alonso’s future is on the line is as notable as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be rebutted, but it is deliberate. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about injuries and unfairness, not even truly believing his own words, Madrid were terrible against Celta: a lack of style, poor commitment, an absence of tactical shape.

The Coach: The Simplest Fix

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 redirect attention to the match, which he did with virtually all his replies. The briefest response he gave might have been the most telling, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the entire team 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 alone that Alonso talked of a team, a club, that goes hand in hand, and when attention was turned to the question of support or the lack of it 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.”