Xabi Alonso Fights for His Position in Newest Edition of Contemporary Showdown

“We are a collective, a single entity, and we are all in this as one,” Xabi Alonso declared, maybe affirming somewhat excessively. “When you’re Real Madrid coach you’re ready,” he added on the morning before Pep Guardiola's side return to the Santiago Bernabéu for the latest instalment of a very modern classic. “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.” Losing and things could change immediately, and for good: this opportunity is an duty, too.

Urgent Meetings After Dismal Setback

Following Madrid’s woefully inadequate 2-0 loss at their own stadium on Sunday, Alonso stated he had “drawn conclusions,” and he was far from the only one. Into the early hours, urgent meetings persisted, the club’s leadership reaching their own verdicts after a single win in five league games. Their diagnoses were divergent and while radical changes are temporarily shelved, tolerance has limits, 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 commented

“For sure the coach had a good plan but, in the end we, the players, are the ones on the pitch,” Aurélien Tchouaméni stated. “Losing by two goals to Celta points to a deficiency in our performance, not the coach's planning.”

A Quick Deterioration After Initial Promise

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 ties are unacceptable, and there’s always someone else who can coach. Things have indeed changed fast, even if the origins of the trouble were there from the start. Sold as a structured planner, the ideal solution after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was a cultural shock at a players’ club.

When Madrid triumphed in El Clásico in late October, they established a five-point lead at the top. They had won 12 of 13 competitive games, although the defeat was emphatic: 5-2 at Atlético. It also exposed fissures. Taken off after 72 minutes, Vinícius Júnior stormed off down the tunnel, reportedly threatening to leave the club. In a missive a few days later he said sorry to all but Alonso. From the club's leadership, rather than backing the coach, there was radio silence.

Frictions Emerging

Within the dressing room, the verdict was evident: Alonso shouldn’t have taken Vinícius off. Questioned on this point if he would do that again, Alonso responded: “I don’t know what that question is for. If I see in the moment that I have to take a decision on the pitch, I do.” Tensions had been exposed, a rift between manager and certain squad members. Federico Valverde too had made his frustrations public. The puzzle pieces weren't aligning as they should. A common complaint began to emerge about all the instructions, the videos, the extended practices. Who did he think he was, the manager?!

Nine days after the clásico, Madrid were overcome at Liverpool, beginning a run of two wins in seven. Able to play direct, they defeated Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those drew at Rayo, Elche and Girona. After a delay, talks were held to fix fault lines or at least mask the problems, to establish peace. Focus shifted to the footballers for the first time.

A Temporary Truce

In Bilbao, where they had been brought together a day early, it seemed some middle ground had been reached; Alonso accommodating their demands more than they did his. Reconciliation was orchestrated when Vinícius greeted the 44-year-old as he departed. A couple of days' rest followed. Subsequently, though, Celta beat them and so it disintegrates anew.

That it is understood that Alonso’s future is in doubt is as important as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be rebutted, but it is calculated. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about player absences and unfairness, not even truly persuading himself, Madrid were terrible against Celta: a lack of style, no attitude, an absence of tactical shape.

The Manager: The Simplest Fix

But the most vulnerable point, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the on-pitch performance, dominated the buildup 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 most concise reply he gave might have been the most significant, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the whole squad was behind him, Alonso replied in a one word: “yes.”

“The role of Real Madrid coach isn't to alter the culture; it is to adjust,” Alonso added. “We know the culture of Real Madrid pretty well; that is why it is the biggest club in the world. You have to adapt, learn a lot, interact with the players. Some days are good, some not so good. We have to face that with energy and positivity, that is the only way to turn things around.”

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 endorsement or the deficit 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.”