Manager Alonso Walking a Precarious Path at Real Madrid Amidst Player Backing.

No forward in Real Madrid’s record books had endured without a goal for as such a duration as Rodrygo, but eventually he was freed and he had a declaration to deliver, performed for public consumption. The Brazilian, who had not scored in almost a year and was beginning only his fifth match this season, beat custodian Gianluigi Donnarumma to hand his team the advantage against Manchester City. Then he turned and sprinted towards the bench to embrace Xabi Alonso, the coach under pressure for whom this could prove an even greater liberation.

“It’s a challenging period for him, just as it is for us,” Rodrygo commented. “Things are not going our way and I aimed to demonstrate people that we are together with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo made his comments, the lead had been taken from them, another loss ensuing. City had come back, taking 2-1 ahead with “not much”, Alonso observed. That can happen when you’re in a “sensitive” condition, he elaborated, but at least Madrid had fought back. On this occasion, they could not pull off a comeback. Endrick, introduced off the bench having played very little all season, struck the crossbar in the dying moments.

A Reserved Sentence

“It wasn’t enough,” Rodrygo conceded. The issue was whether it would be sufficient for Alonso to keep his role. “We didn’t feel that [this was a trial of the coach],” veteran keeper Thibaut Courtois insisted, but that was how it had been presented externally, and how it was understood behind closed doors. “Our performance proved that we’re behind the manager: we have played well, provided 100%,” Courtois concluded. And so judgment was postponed, any action pending, with matches against Alavés and Sevilla looming.

A Distinct Form of Loss

Madrid had been defeated at home for the second time in four days, perpetuating their recent run to two wins in eight, but this was a little different. This was Manchester City, rather than a lesser opponent. Streamlined, they had competed with intensity, the simplest and most critical charge not levelled at them in this instance. With eight men out injured, they had lost only to a scrambled finish and a converted penalty, coming close to earning something at the final whistle. There were “numerous of very good things” about this showing, the boss argued, and there could be “no criticism” of his players, not this time.

The Fans' Ambivalent Reaction

That was not entirely the case. There were spells in the latter period, as discontent grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had voiced its disapproval. At the conclusion, some of supporters had continued, although there was likewise pockets of appreciation. But for the most part, there was a subdued procession to the doors. “That’s normal, we comprehend it,” Rodrygo noted. Alonso remarked: “This is nothing that is unprecedented before. And there were times when they cheered too.”

Player Backing Is Firm

“I sense the confidence of the players,” Alonso said. And if he supported them, they supported him too, at least towards the media. There has been a rapprochement, discussions: the coach had listened to them, perhaps more than they had accommodated him, reaching a point not quite in the middle.

Whether durable a fix that is remains an matter of debate. One small exchange in the after-game press conference appeared telling. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s counsel to follow his own path, Alonso had let that idea to hang there, answering: “I share a good rapport with Pep, we understand each other well and he is aware of what he is saying.”

A Starting Point of Fight

Above all though, he could be pleased that there was a resistance, a pushback. Madrid’s players had not abandoned their coach during the game and after it they stood up for him. Part of it may have been theatrical, done out of duty or mutual survival, but in this climate, it was meaningful. The intensity with which they played had been as well – even if there is a temptation of the most fundamental of requirements somehow being promoted as a form of positive.

Earlier, Aurélien Tchouaméni had insisted the coach had a vision, that their shortcomings were not his doing. “I think my colleague Aurélien nailed it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said after full-time. “The sole solution is [for] the players to alter the approach. The attitude is the crucial element and today we have witnessed a difference.”

Jude Bellingham, pressed if they were with the coach, also replied with a figure: “100%.”

“We’re still attempting to solve it in the locker room,” he continued. “It's clear that the [outside] noise will not be beneficial so it is about trying to fix it in there.”

“I think the coach has been excellent. I individually have a great relationship with him,” Bellingham stated. “After the sequence of games where we were held a few, we had some very productive conversations behind the scenes.”

“Every situation ends in the end,” Alonso philosophized, perhaps speaking as much about poor form as his own predicament.