Manager Alonso Walking a Fine Line at Madrid Amidst Player Backing.

No forward in Real Madrid’s history had gone scoreless for as such a duration as Rodrygo, but at last he was released and he had a message to broadcast, acted out for the cameras. The Brazilian, who had failed to score in an extended drought and was starting only his fifth match this season, beat custodian Gianluigi Donnarumma to give them the opening goal against the English champions. Then he turned and ran towards the sideline to greet Xabi Alonso, the boss under pressure for whom this could signal an even greater relief.

“It’s a tough moment for him, similar to how it is for us,” Rodrygo stated. “Performances aren't working out and I wanted to demonstrate everyone that we are together with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo addressed the media, the lead had been surrendered, another loss ensuing. City had turned it around, going 2-1 ahead with “minimal”, Alonso noted. That can occur when you’re in a “delicate” state, he continued, but at least Madrid had reacted. Ultimately, they could not engineer a recovery. Endrick, introduced off the bench having played very little all season, rattled the bar in the final seconds.

A Delayed Sentence

“It proved insufficient,” Rodrygo admitted. The issue was whether it would be sufficient for Alonso to hold onto his role. “We didn’t feel that [this was a trial of the coach],” goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois insisted, but that was how it had been portrayed in the media, and how it was felt privately. “We demonstrated that we’re with the coach: we have performed creditably, given 100%,” Courtois affirmed. And so the axe was postponed, sentencing delayed, with matches against Alavés and Sevilla on the horizon.

A Different Kind of Defeat

Madrid had been defeated at home for the second occasion in four days, continuing their recent run to two wins in eight, but this was a little different. This was the Premier League champions, as opposed to a lesser opponent. Stripped down, they had shown fight, the simplest and most harsh criticism not levelled at them in this instance. With eight men out injured, they had lost only to a opportunistic strike and a spot-kick, almost salvaging something at the final whistle. There were “a lot of very good things” about this display, the head coach stated, and there could be “no criticism” of his players, tonight.

The Stadium's Muted Reaction

That was not entirely the case. There were periods in the latter period, as frustration grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had whistled. At the conclusion, some of supporters had repeated that, although there was in addition sporadic clapping. But for the most part, there was a quiet procession to the doors. “It's to be expected, we understand it,” Rodrygo commented. Alonso added: “It’s nothing that hasn’t happened before. And there were instances when they applauded too.”

Player Support Is Firm

“I feel the backing of the players,” Alonso declared. And if he backed them, they stood by him too, at least towards the media. There has been a unification, conversations: the coach had accommodated them, maybe more than they had embraced him, meeting a point not exactly in the middle.

How lasting a solution that is remains an open question. One small moment in the after-game press conference appeared significant. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s advice to follow his own path, Alonso had permitted that implication to hang there, replying: “I have a good relationship with Pep, we know each other well and he knows what he is talking about.”

A Basis of Reaction

Above all though, he could be satisfied that there was a resistance, a response. Madrid’s players had not given up during the game and after it they publicly backed him. This support may have been theatrical, done out of duty or mutual survival, but in this tense environment, it was meaningful. The effort with which they played had been as well – even if there is a danger of the most elementary of standards somehow being elevated as a form of success.

In the build-up, Aurélien Tchouaméni had stated firmly the coach had a strategy, that their mistakes were not his doing. “I believe my colleague Aurélien put it perfectly in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said after full-time. “The key is [for] the players to improve the attitude. The attitude is the linchpin and today we have observed a shift.”

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

“We persist in attempting to figure it out in the locker room,” he elaborated. “We know that the [outside] speculation will not be helpful so it is about trying to fix it in there.”

“Personally, I feel the coach has been excellent. I personally have a strong connection with him,” Bellingham stated. “Following the sequence of games where we tied a few, we had some very productive conversations among ourselves.”

“All things passes in the end,” Alonso concluded, possibly speaking as much about adversity as anything else.