Manager Alonso Navigating a Precarious Tightrope at Madrid Despite Dressing Room Backing.

No attacker in Real Madrid’s annals had gone failing to find the net for as such a duration as Rodrygo, but at last he was freed and he had a declaration to send, performed for the world to see. The Brazilian, who had been goalless in almost a year and was starting only his fifth appearance this season, beat custodian Gianluigi Donnarumma to hand his team the advantage against Manchester City. Then he wheeled and sprinted towards the sideline to embrace Xabi Alonso, the boss under pressure for whom this could prove an more significant liberation.

“This is a tough moment for him, just as it is for us,” Rodrygo stated. “Performances aren’t coming off and I wanted to prove people that we are united with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo spoke, the advantage had been surrendered, another loss following. City had turned it around, taking 2-1 ahead with “minimal”, Alonso observed. That can occur when you’re in a “delicate” condition, he added, but at least Madrid had responded. This time, they could not complete a comeback. Endrick, on as a substitute having played a handful of minutes all season, rattled the woodwork in the dying moments.

A Reserved Judgment

“The effort fell short,” Rodrygo admitted. The issue was whether it would be enough for Alonso to keep his role. “We didn't view it as [this was a trial of the coach],” goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois remarked, but that was how it had been portrayed in the media, and how it was understood behind closed doors. “We demonstrated that we’re behind the manager: we have played well, given 100%,” Courtois affirmed. And so the axe was postponed, consequences pending, with matches against Alavés and Sevilla on the horizon.

A Different Type of Defeat

Madrid had been beaten at home for the second occasion in four days, continuing their poor form to just two victories in eight, but this felt a more respectable. This was the Premier League champions, as opposed to a La Liga opponent. Stripped down, they had shown fight, the simplest and most damning criticism not levelled at them on this night. With eight men out injured, they had lost only to a messy goal and a penalty, almost earning something at the end. There were “a lot of very good things” about this showing, the manager argued, and there could be “no reproach” of his players, tonight.

The Stadium's Muted Reception

That was not entirely the full story. There were periods in the closing 45 minutes, as discontent grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had jeered. At full time, some of supporters had repeated that, although there was also sporadic clapping. But primarily, there was a subdued flow to the doors. “It's to be expected, we accept it,” Rodrygo said. Alonso remarked: “There's nothing that is unprecedented before. And there were times when they cheered too.”

Player Unity Remains Evident

“I sense the support of the players,” Alonso affirmed. And if he backed them, they backed him too, at least in front of the cameras. There has been a unification, conversations: the coach had accommodated them, arguably more than they had adapted to him, meeting a point not precisely in the middle.

How lasting a solution that is remains an matter of debate. One seemingly minor moment in the after-game press conference felt significant. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s counsel to follow his own path, Alonso had allowed that notion to linger, replying: “I share a good relationship with Pep, we know each other well and he knows what he is saying.”

A Starting Point of Fight

Most importantly though, he could be content that there was a spirit, a pushback. Madrid’s players had not let Alonso fall during the game and after it they defended him. This support may have been theatrical, done out of duty or self-preservation, but in this context, it was meaningful. The intensity with which they played had been too – even if there is a risk of the most basic of expectations somehow being promoted as a kind of positive.

In the build-up, Aurélien Tchouaméni had stated firmly the coach had a vision, that their failings were not his fault. “I believe my teammate Aurélien nailed it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said after full-time. “The sole solution is [for] the players to change the approach. The attitude is the key thing and today we have witnessed a shift.”

Jude Bellingham, questioned if they were behind the coach, also responded in numbers: “100%.”

“We’re still striving to figure it out in the locker room,” he elaborated. “We understand that the [outside] speculation will not be productive so it is about trying to resolve it in there.”

“Personally, I feel the coach has been excellent. I myself have a strong rapport with him,” Bellingham added. “Following the sequence of games where we tied a few, we had some really great conversations internally.”

“All things ends in the end,” Alonso concluded, perhaps talking as much about adversity as everything.