Manager Alonso Walking a Precarious Path at Madrid Despite Player Support.

No offensive player in Los Blancos' history had experienced without a goal for as such a duration as Rodrygo, but at last he was unleashed and he had a statement to deliver, executed for the world to see. The Brazilian, who had failed to score in almost a year and was commencing only his fifth game this season, beat custodian Gianluigi Donnarumma to hand his team the lead against the English champions. Then he spun and sprinted towards the bench to greet Xabi Alonso, the coach under pressure for whom this could represent an even greater liberation.

“This is a tough moment for him, just as it is for us,” Rodrygo said. “Things are not going our way and I aimed to demonstrate people that we are as one with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo spoke, the lead had been surrendered, another loss ensuing. City had reversed the score, taking 2-1 ahead with “not much”, Alonso remarked. That can transpire when you’re in a “sensitive” state, he continued, but at least Madrid had reacted. Ultimately, they could not engineer a recovery. Endrick, brought on having played a handful of minutes all season, rattled the crossbar in the final seconds.

A Reserved Verdict

“It wasn’t enough,” Rodrygo said. The issue was whether it would be adequate for Alonso to retain his role. “We didn’t feel that [this was a trial of the coach],” veteran keeper Thibaut Courtois remarked, but that was how it had been framed publicly, and how it was felt privately. “Our performance proved that we’re with the manager: we have given a good account, offered 100%,” Courtois affirmed. And so judgment was withheld, sentencing suspended, with games against Alavés and Sevilla on the horizon.

A Different Form of Defeat

Madrid had been defeated at home for the second occasion in four days, perpetuating their poor form to just two victories in eight, but this was a somewhat distinct. This was the Premier League champions, rather than a lesser opponent. Streamlined, they had competed with intensity, the easiest and most damning criticism not aimed at them this time. With eight men out injured, they had lost only to a scrambled finish and a spot-kick, coming close to earning something at the death. There were “a lot of very good things” about this performance, the head coach stated, and there could be “no reproach” of his players, not this time.

The Fans' Ambivalent Response

That was not always the case. There were spells in the latter period, as irritation grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had whistled. At the conclusion, a section of supporters had continued, although there was also some applause. But primarily, there was a subdued procession to the doors. “It's to be expected, we comprehend it,” Rodrygo commented. Alonso added: “This is nothing that doesn't occur before. And there were times when they cheered too.”

Player Unity Remains Strong

“I sense the support of the players,” Alonso said. And if he backed them, they stood by him too, at least in front of the cameras. There has been a coming together, discussions: the coach had listened to them, maybe more than they had embraced him, finding common ground not exactly in the middle.

How lasting a remedy that is is still an unresolved issue. One little moment in the post-match press conference seemed notable. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s advice to stick to his principles, Alonso had permitted that idea to linger, answering: “I have a good rapport with Pep, we understand each other well and he understands what he is saying.”

A Foundation of Resistance

Above all though, he could be satisfied that there was a spirit, a response. Madrid’s players had not given up during the game and after it they publicly backed him. Some of this may have been performative, done out of duty or mutual survival, but in this climate, it was important. The intensity with which they played had been too – even if there is a risk of the most basic of requirements somehow being elevated as a type of positive.

Earlier, Aurélien Tchouaméni had insisted the coach had a strategy, that their shortcomings were not his fault. “In my view my teammate Aurélien said it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said after full-time. “The only way is [for] the players to change the mindset. The attitude is the linchpin and today we have observed a difference.”

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

“We are continuing attempting to figure it out in the dressing room,” he elaborated. “It's clear that the [outside] chatter will not be helpful so it is about trying to fix it in there.”

“Personally, I feel the gaffer has been superb. I personally have a great rapport with him,” Bellingham concluded. “After the run of games where we were held a few, we had some really great conversations among ourselves.”

“Every situation concludes in the end,” Alonso philosophized, possibly referring as much about a difficult spell as anything else.