Manager Alonso Walking a Fine Path at Real Madrid Despite Dressing Room Endorsement.

No offensive player in the club's record books had experienced scoreless for as such a duration as Rodrygo, but eventually he was unleashed and he had a message to send, performed for the cameras. The Brazilian, who had been goalless in almost a year and was starting only his fifth match this campaign, beat shot-stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma to hand his team the opening goal against the English champions. Then he turned and charged towards the bench to embrace Xabi Alonso, the boss on the edge for whom this could signal an profound relief.

“This is a tough period for him, just as it is for us,” Rodrygo said. “Things aren't working out and I sought to show people that we are as one with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo spoke, the advantage had been lost, a setback following. City had reversed the score, taking 2-1 ahead with “minimal”, Alonso noted. That can transpire when you’re in a “sensitive” situation, he added, but at least Madrid had reacted. On this occasion, they could not engineer a turnaround. Endrick, on as a substitute having played very little all season, hit the bar in the closing stages.

A Reserved Sentence

“It wasn’t enough,” Rodrygo admitted. The issue was whether it would be sufficient for Alonso to retain his role. “We didn't view it as [this was a trial of the coach],” veteran keeper Thibaut Courtois stated, but that was how it had been portrayed in the media, and how it was perceived internally. “We have shown that we’re supporting the manager: we have performed creditably, given 100%,” Courtois added. And so judgment was postponed, sentencing pending, with games against Alavés and Sevilla on the horizon.

A Different Type of Setback

Madrid had been defeated at home for the second occasion in four days, continuing their recent run to two wins in eight, but this seemed a little different. This was a European powerhouse, as opposed to a lesser opponent. Streamlined, they had actually run, the most obvious and most damning accusation not aimed at them on this night. With multiple players out injured, they had lost only to a opportunistic strike and a converted penalty, nearly earning something at the final whistle. There were “numerous of very good things” about this performance, the boss stated, and there could be “no reproach” of his players, tonight.

The Fans' Muted Reaction

That was not entirely the complete picture. There were periods in the latter period, as irritation grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had voiced its disapproval. At the final whistle, some of supporters had done so again, although there was in addition pockets of appreciation. But mostly, there was a subdued procession to the subway. “That’s normal, we comprehend it,” Rodrygo commented. Alonso stated: “It’s nothing that hasn’t happened before. And there were times when they applauded too.”

Squad Unity Stands Strong

“I have the support of the players,” Alonso said. And if he stood by them, they supported him too, at least in front of the public. There has been a unification, discussions: the coach had listened to them, perhaps more than they had embraced him, reaching common ground not quite in the compromise.

The longevity of a solution that is continues to be an unresolved issue. One little exchange in the after-game press conference seemed telling. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s advice to do things his way, Alonso had let that implication to remain unanswered, responding: “I share a good relationship with Pep, we understand each other well and he is aware of what he is implying.”

A Foundation of Resistance

Crucially though, he could be satisfied that there was a spirit, a pushback. Madrid’s players had not abandoned their coach during the game and after it they publicly backed him. Part of it may have been theatrical, done out of obligation or self-interest, but in this climate, it was meaningful. The effort with which they played had been as well – even if there is a temptation of the most elementary of requirements somehow being framed as a type of success.

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

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

“We persist in attempting to solve it in the changing room,” he elaborated. “We know that the [outside] noise will not be beneficial so it is about attempting to fix it in there.”

“Personally, I feel the manager has been great. I individually have a excellent rapport with him,” Bellingham stated. “After the sequence of games where we were held a few, we had some really great conversations among ourselves.”

“Every situation passes in the end,” Alonso philosophized, possibly talking as much about poor form as his own predicament.