Xabi Alonso Treading a Precarious Tightrope at Real Madrid Despite Player Backing.

No forward in Los Blancos' annals had experienced failing to find the net for as such a duration as Rodrygo, but eventually he was freed and he had a statement to broadcast, acted out for public consumption. The Brazilian, who had been goalless in an extended drought and was commencing only his fifth appearance this campaign, beat shot-stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma to secure the opening goal against Pep Guardiola's side. Then he spun and ran towards the touchline to embrace Xabi Alonso, the coach in the spotlight for whom this could represent an more significant relief.

“It’s a challenging time for him, just as it is for us,” Rodrygo stated. “Performances aren't working out and I wanted to show everyone that we are united with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo addressed the media, the lead had been surrendered, a defeat taking its place. City had come back, taking 2-1 ahead with “not much”, Alonso observed. That can happen when you’re in a “sensitive” situation, he elaborated, but at least Madrid had reacted. On this occasion, they could not engineer a comeback. Endrick, brought on having played 11 minutes all season, hit the crossbar in the dying moments.

A Suspended Sentence

“It proved insufficient,” Rodrygo conceded. The issue was whether it would be adequate for Alonso to hold onto his role. “We didn’t feel that [this was a trial of the coach],” goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois remarked, but that was how it had been portrayed in the media, and how it was felt privately. “Our performance proved that we’re behind the coach: we have performed creditably, given 100%,” Courtois concluded. And so judgment was withheld, consequences delayed, with games against Alavés and Sevilla looming.

A More Credible Type of Loss

Madrid had been defeated at home for the second occasion in four days, continuing their recent run to two wins in eight, but this was a somewhat distinct. This was Manchester City, as opposed to a La Liga opponent. Streamlined, they had competed with intensity, the easiest and most critical charge not levelled at them on this night. With multiple players out injured, they had lost only to a opportunistic strike and a penalty, nearly securing something at the end. There were “numerous of very good things” about this showing, the boss argued, and there could be “no criticism” of his players, on this occasion.

The Bernabéu's Ambivalent Reception

That was not always the case. There were moments in the second half, as irritation grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had whistled. At the conclusion, some of supporters had continued, although there was likewise sporadic clapping. But for the most part, there was a subdued flow to the exits. “It's to be expected, we accept it,” Rodrygo commented. Alonso stated: “There's nothing that is unprecedented before. And there were times when they clapped too.”

Squad Unity Remains Strong

“I have the support of the players,” Alonso declared. And if he backed them, they stood by him too, at least in front of the public. There has been a coming together, talks: the coach had considered them, arguably more than they had embraced him, reaching somewhere not quite in the compromise.

How lasting a solution that is remains an matter of debate. One small incident in the after-game press conference appeared notable. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s advice to do things his way, Alonso had permitted that notion to remain unanswered, answering: “I have a good relationship with Pep, we understand each other well and he understands what he is implying.”

A Starting Point of Fight

Most importantly though, he could be content that there was a resistance, a reaction. Madrid’s players had not abandoned their coach during the game and after it they defended him. This support may have been for show, done out of professionalism or self-preservation, but in this climate, it was meaningful. The intensity with which they played had been equally so – even if there is a danger of the most basic of expectations somehow being framed as a kind of success.

In the build-up, Aurélien Tchouaméni had argued the coach had a strategy, that their failings were not his responsibility. “I think my teammate Aurélien nailed it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said after full-time. “The sole solution is [for] the players to change the mindset. The attitude is the linchpin and today we have seen a shift.”

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

“We persist in striving to figure it out in the locker room,” he elaborated. “It's clear that the [outside] speculation will not be productive so it is about striving to resolve it in there.”

“I think the coach has been great. I personally have a excellent relationship with him,” Bellingham concluded. “After the sequence of games where we tied a few, we had some really great conversations internally.”

“Every situation concludes in the end,” Alonso concluded, perhaps talking as much about a difficult spell as his own predicament.