Manager Alonso Navigating a Precarious Line at Madrid Even With Dressing Room Backing.

No forward in Real Madrid’s annals had experienced without a goal for as long as Rodrygo, but eventually he was unleashed and he had a message to deliver, acted out for public consumption. The Brazilian, who had not scored in nine months and was commencing only his fifth game this campaign, beat goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to secure the opening goal against Pep Guardiola's side. Then he wheeled and charged towards the bench to embrace Xabi Alonso, the coach in the spotlight for whom this could represent an more significant release.

“It’s a tough period for him, just as it is for us,” Rodrygo said. “Performances aren’t coming off and I sought to demonstrate everyone that we are united with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo addressed the media, the advantage had been surrendered, another loss taking its place. City had turned it around, going 2-1 ahead with “very little”, Alonso observed. That can transpire when you’re in a “fragile” condition, he elaborated, but at least Madrid had reacted. This time, they could not complete a comeback. Endrick, introduced off the bench having played very little all season, struck the woodwork in the dying moments.

A Delayed Verdict

“It wasn’t enough,” Rodrygo admitted. The dilemma was whether it would be sufficient for Alonso to retain his position. “We didn’t feel that [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 coach: we have given a good account, given 100%,” Courtois added. And so the axe was postponed, sentencing pending, with fixtures against Alavés and Sevilla imminent.

A Different Type of Loss

Madrid had been defeated at home for the second time in four days, continuing their recent run to two wins in eight, but this seemed a more respectable. This was a European powerhouse, as opposed to a domestic opponent. Simplified, they had shown fight, the simplest and most harsh accusation not aimed at them this time. With multiple players out injured, they had lost only to a scrambled finish and a converted penalty, nearly earning something at the final whistle. There were “a lot of very good things” about this display, the manager argued, and there could be “no reproach” of his players, on this occasion.

The Bernabéu's Muted Reaction

That was not completely the complete picture. There were periods in the closing 45 minutes, as frustration grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had jeered. At the conclusion, some of supporters had continued, although there was in addition some applause. But mostly, there was a muted procession to the exits. “It's to be expected, we accept it,” Rodrygo noted. Alonso stated: “It’s nothing that hasn’t happened before. And there were instances when they applauded too.”

Dressing Room Support Is Evident

“I sense the confidence of the players,” Alonso affirmed. And if he supported them, they backed him too, at least for the media. There has been a unification, talks: the coach had listened to them, perhaps more than they had embraced him, meeting a point not quite in the middle.

Whether durable a fix that is continues to be an matter of debate. One small exchange in the after-game press conference seemed significant. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s suggestion to follow his own path, Alonso had allowed that implication to hang there, answering: “I share a good connection with Pep, we understand each other well and he understands what he is talking about.”

A Basis of Fight

Above all though, he could be pleased that there was a fight, a reaction. Madrid’s players had not abandoned their coach during the game and after it they publicly backed him. Part of it may have been for show, done out of professionalism or self-preservation, but in this context, it was meaningful. The intensity with which they played had been equally so – even if there is a danger of the most fundamental of expectations somehow being promoted as a form of positive.

In the build-up, Aurélien Tchouaméni had stated firmly the coach had a vision, that their failings were not his responsibility. “I think my colleague Aurélien said it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said after full-time. “The only way is [for] the players to alter the attitude. The attitude is the key thing and today we have seen a shift.”

Jude Bellingham, questioned if they were supporting the coach, also answered with a figure: “100%.”

“We are continuing striving to solve it in the dressing room,” he said. “We know that the [outside] noise will not be productive so it is about attempting to resolve it in there.”

“In my opinion the coach has been superb. I myself have a excellent connection with him,” Bellingham added. “Following the run of games where we drew a few, we had some really great conversations among ourselves.”

“Everything concludes in the end,” Alonso mused, perhaps referring as much about poor form as his own predicament.