“We are a collective, a single entity, and we are all in this as one,” the Real Madrid coach insisted, perhaps affirming somewhat excessively. “Being the manager of Real Madrid means you are always prepared,” he remarked on the eve before Pep Guardiola's side return to the Santiago Bernabéu for a new edition 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 shift instantly, and permanently: this opportunity is an duty, too.
Following Madrid’s woefully inadequate 2-0 setback on Sunday, Alonso said he had “reached some conclusions,” and he was far from the only one. Late into the night, emergency discussions carried on, the club’s hierarchy forming their own opinions after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their analyses were different and while severe measures are temporarily shelved, forbearance is running out, the names of potential replacements 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,” the French midfielder stated. “If we lost 2-0 to Celta, there’s a problem that’s on us: it’s not the coach’s fault.”
City will be his twenty-eighth outing in charge of Madrid and it might be his final one at a club where a state of emergency is always just two losses around the corner, where even sharing points is insufficient, and there’s always someone else who can coach. Things have indeed evolved rapidly, even if the roots of the crisis were there from the start. Sold as a structured planner, the ideal solution after a season of laissez-faire and failure, Alonso was counter-cultural at a players’ club.
When Madrid won the clásico in late October, they moved five points ahead at the top. They had secured twelve victories in thirteen competitive games, although the defeat was emphatic: 5-2 at Atlético. It also highlighted flaws. Replaced in the 72nd minute, Vinícius Júnior headed directly for the dressing room, threatening to walk straight out the club. In a missive a few days later he apologised to everyone except Alonso. At the executive level, rather than reinforcing the manager, there was silence.
Internally, the assessment was obvious: Alonso ought not to have substituted Vinícius off. Pressed on the issue if he would make the same call, Alonso replied: “The intent behind that question eludes me. When a situation on the pitch demands a choice, I make it.” Tensions had been exposed, a separation between manager and certain squad members. Federico Valverde too had voiced his discontent openly. The puzzle pieces weren't aligning as they should. A common complaint began to slip out 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 defeated at Anfield, beginning a run of two wins in seven. Capable of a more direct style, they defeated Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those were held by Rayo, Elche and Girona. After a delay, talks were held to fix fault lines or at least paper over the issues, to restore tranquility. Focus was directed at the footballers for the first time.
In Bilbao, where they had been assembled a day early, it seemed some agreement had been reached; Alonso accommodating their demands more than they did his. Rapprochement was orchestrated when Vinícius greeted the manager as he departed. Two days off followed. Subsequently, though, Celta overcame them and so it disintegrates anew.
That it is understood that Alonso’s future is under scrutiny is as notable as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be denied, but it is intentional. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about fitness issues and unfairness, not even truly convincing himself, Madrid were awful against Celta: a lack of style, a deficient mentality, no structure.
But the weakest link, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the sporting matters, was the central theme 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 almost every response. The shortest answer he gave might have been the most revealing, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the whole squad was behind him, Alonso replied in a one word: “yes.”
“Managing Real Madrid doesn't involve transforming the culture; it requires fitting in,” Alonso stated. “The culture of Real Madrid is well-known to us; it's the reason for its status as the world's premier club. Adaptation, continuous learning, and player communication are key. There will be highs and lows. Meeting challenges with drive and a positive mindset is the only route to improvement.”
It was when he was asked if he felt isolated that Alonso talked of a unit, a club, that goes in unison, and when attention was turned to the question of support or the lack of it 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.”
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