Alonso Struggles for His Future in Newest Chapter of Modern Fixture

“This is a team, it is a club, and we all go together hand in hand,” Xabi Alonso declared, perhaps asserting a little too much. “When you’re Real Madrid coach you’re ready,” he continued on the morning before Manchester City step back into the Santiago Bernabéu for the latest instalment of a contemporary rivalry. “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.” Failure and things could alter for good, and permanently: this chance is an duty, too.

Emergency Discussions After Dismal Home Defeat

Following Madrid’s woefully inadequate 2-0 setback on Sunday, Alonso said he had “formed his own assessments,” and he was in plentiful company. Late into the night, crisis talks carried on, the club’s board drawing their own conclusions after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their analyses were divergent and while radical changes are temporarily shelved, patience is finite, the names of possible successors already in the public domain. “These are scenarios you must deal with, yet my mind is fixed only on the game, on what I can influence,” 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 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 Deterioration After Initial Promise

City will be his twenty-eighth match 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 ties are unacceptable, and there’s invariably another candidate who can coach. Things have indeed evolved rapidly, even if the roots of the crisis were there from the start. Hailed as a tactical disciplinarian, 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 triumphed in twelve out of thirteen competitive games, although the loss had been heavy: 5-2 at Atlético. It also highlighted flaws. Taken off after 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior headed directly for the dressing room, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a statement a few days later he expressed regret to all apart from Alonso. At the executive level, rather than supporting the trainer, there was a conspicuous quiet.

Tensions Coming to Light

Within the dressing room, the assessment was clear: Alonso was wrong to remove Vinícius off. Pressed on the issue if he would do that again, Alonso replied: “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 laid bare, a rift between trainer and a portion of the team. Federico Valverde too had voiced his discontent openly. The puzzle pieces weren't aligning as they should. A familiar lament began to surface about all the directives, the video analysis, 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. Capable of a more direct style, they overcame Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those were held by Rayo, Elche and Girona. After a delay, talks were held to repair cracks or at least mask the problems, to restore tranquility. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time.

A Temporary Rapprochement

In Bilbao, where they had been gathered a day early, it seemed some agreement had been found; Alonso yielding to their requests more than they did his. Rapprochement was orchestrated when Vinícius greeted the coach as he departed. Two days off followed. A few days after, though, Celta defeated them and so it falls apart once more.

That it is known that Alonso’s future is under scrutiny is as significant 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 terrible against Celta: a lack of style, poor commitment, no structure.

The Manager: The Simplest Fix

But the weakest link, 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 nearly each answer. The briefest response 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 solitary term: “yes.”

“The role of Real Madrid coach isn't to alter the culture; it is to adjust,” 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 collective, a club, that goes hand in hand, and when attention was turned to the question of backing or its absence 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.”