Manager Alonso Navigating a Fine Tightrope at Madrid Despite Player Endorsement.

No forward in the club's record books had experienced failing to find the net for as such a duration as Rodrygo, but finally he was unleashed and he had a statement to send, executed for public consumption. The Brazilian, who had failed to score in almost a year and was commencing only his fifth game this term, beat custodian Gianluigi Donnarumma to hand his team the opening goal against Manchester City. Then he wheeled and charged towards the sideline to hug Xabi Alonso, the coach under pressure for whom this could represent an profound liberation.

“This is a challenging time for him, like it is for us,” Rodrygo commented. “Performances are not going our way and I sought to prove people that we are together with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo addressed the media, the lead had been lost, another loss taking its place. City had turned it around, going 2-1 ahead with “very little”, Alonso remarked. That can occur when you’re in a “sensitive” situation, he added, but at least Madrid had reacted. Ultimately, they could not pull off a recovery. Endrick, introduced off the bench having played 11 minutes all season, struck the bar in the final seconds.

A Delayed Sentence

“It proved insufficient,” Rodrygo conceded. The dilemma was whether it would be sufficient for Alonso to retain his job. “We didn’t feel that [this was a trial of the coach],” goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois remarked, but that was how it had been framed publicly, and how it was understood behind closed doors. “We have shown that we’re supporting the coach: we have played well, provided 100%,” Courtois concluded. And so the final decision was postponed, any action suspended, with matches against Alavés and Sevilla on the horizon.

A Different Kind of Defeat

Madrid had been defeated at home for the second time in four days, continuing their uninspiring streak to just two victories in eight, but this seemed a more respectable. This was a European powerhouse, not a domestic opponent. Stripped down, they had shown fight, the most obvious and most harsh accusation not levelled at them in this instance. With multiple players out injured, they had lost only to a opportunistic strike and a spot-kick, almost securing something at the final whistle. There were “numerous of very good things” about this performance, the boss argued, and there could be “no reproach” of his players, not this time.

The Fans' Muted Reaction

That was not completely the case. There were periods in the latter period, as frustration grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had jeered. At the final whistle, some of supporters had repeated that, although there was also some applause. But mostly, there was a quiet flow to the exits. “It's to be expected, we accept it,” Rodrygo noted. Alonso stated: “This is nothing that is unprecedented before. And there were times when they applauded too.”

Player Support Is Evident

“I feel the backing of the players,” Alonso affirmed. And if he supported them, they stood by him too, at least in front of the media. There has been a coming together, conversations: the coach had accommodated them, maybe more than they had embraced him, meeting a point not quite in the center.

How lasting a remedy that is is still an matter of debate. One little incident in the after-game press conference appeared significant. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s advice to stick to his principles, Alonso had let that implication to remain unanswered, answering: “I share a good rapport with Pep, we know each other well and he is aware of what he is talking about.”

A Starting Point of Fight

Most importantly though, he could be satisfied that there was a fight, a reaction. Madrid’s players had not abandoned their coach during the game and after it they defended him. This support may have been theatrical, done out of duty or mutual survival, but in this tense environment, it was significant. The effort with which they played had been too – even if there is a temptation of the most basic of requirements somehow being elevated as a type of achievement.

Earlier, Aurélien Tchouaméni had insisted the coach had a strategy, that their mistakes were not his fault. “In my view my colleague Aurélien said it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said after full-time. “The sole solution is [for] the players to alter the approach. The attitude is the key thing and today we have seen a change.”

Jude Bellingham, asked if they were behind the coach, also responded in numbers: “100%.”

“We’re still attempting to solve it in the locker room,” he said. “We know that the [outside] chatter will not be beneficial so it is about attempting to resolve it in there.”

“Personally, I feel the manager has been excellent. I myself have a great relationship with him,” Bellingham added. “After the run of games where we were held a few, we had some very productive conversations among ourselves.”

“Every situation passes in the end,” Alonso concluded, perhaps speaking as much about adversity as his own predicament.