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

No offensive player in the club's history had endured scoreless for as long as Rodrygo, but finally he was freed and he had a statement to send, executed for the world to see. The Brazilian, who had failed to score in nine months and was starting only his fifth game this campaign, beat goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to hand his team the advantage against the English champions. Then he turned and charged towards the sideline to embrace Xabi Alonso, the manager in the spotlight for whom this could prove an more significant liberation.

“It’s a difficult time for him, like it is for us,” Rodrygo said. “Results aren’t coming off and I wanted to demonstrate the public that we are as one with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo addressed the media, the advantage had been surrendered, another loss following. City had reversed the score, taking 2-1 ahead with “not much”, Alonso noted. That can occur when you’re in a “delicate” condition, he added, but at least Madrid had fought back. This time, they could not complete a recovery. Endrick, introduced off the bench having played very little all season, hit the woodwork in the closing stages.

A Delayed Judgment

“The effort fell short,” Rodrygo said. The question was whether it would be enough for Alonso to keep his role. “That wasn't our perception [this was a trial of the coach],” veteran keeper Thibaut Courtois remarked, but that was how it had been framed publicly, and how it was felt privately. “Our performance proved that we’re supporting the manager: we have played well, provided 100%,” Courtois affirmed. And so judgment was postponed, any action delayed, with games against Alavés and Sevilla on the horizon.

A More Credible Type of Loss

Madrid had been defeated at home for the second match in four days, perpetuating their recent run to a mere pair of successes in eight, but this seemed a somewhat distinct. This was the Premier League champions, as opposed to a La Liga opponent. Stripped down, they had shown fight, the simplest and most critical criticism not levelled at them on this night. With a host of first-teamers out injured, they had lost only to a opportunistic strike and a spot-kick, nearly securing something at the end. There were “many of very good things” about this showing, the head coach said, and there could be “no criticism” of his players, tonight.

The Fans' Muted Reaction

That was not completely the complete picture. There were moments in the closing 45 minutes, as irritation grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had whistled. At full time, some of supporters had done so again, although there was in addition some applause. But for the most part, there was a muted flow to the exits. “It's to be expected, we comprehend it,” Rodrygo noted. Alonso added: “This is nothing that doesn't occur before. And there were moments when they cheered too.”

Squad Unity Remains Evident

“I have the backing of the players,” Alonso affirmed. And if he supported them, they backed him too, at least for the public. There has been a unification, discussions: the coach had listened to them, perhaps more than they had accommodated him, finding a point not quite in the center.

How lasting a remedy that is remains an open question. One small exchange in the post-match press conference seemed notable. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s counsel to stick to his principles, Alonso had allowed that notion to linger, responding: “I have a good relationship with Pep, we understand each other well and he is aware of what he is implying.”

A Basis of Reaction

Crucially though, he could be satisfied that there was a resistance, a pushback. Madrid’s players had not let Alonso fall during the game and after it they publicly backed him. This support may have been for show, done out of obligation or self-preservation, but in this climate, it was important. The effort with which they played had been equally so – even if there is a danger of the most fundamental of requirements somehow being elevated as a type of success.

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

Jude Bellingham, questioned if they were supporting the coach, also answered quantitatively: “100%.”

“We are continuing trying to figure it out in the changing room,” he elaborated. “We know that the [outside] noise will not be productive so it is about trying to resolve it in there.”

“Personally, I feel the coach has been superb. I personally have a great relationship with him,” Bellingham concluded. “After the sequence of games where we were held a few, we had some honest conversations among ourselves.”

“Everything ends in the end,” Alonso concluded, possibly talking as much about poor form as his own predicament.