Manager Alonso Treading a Precarious Line at Real Madrid Even With Dressing Room Endorsement.

No attacker in Real Madrid’s record books had endured without a goal for as such a duration as Rodrygo, but finally he was unleashed and he had a statement to deliver, executed for the cameras. The Brazilian, who had failed to score in an extended drought and was starting only his fifth game this season, beat goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to hand his team the advantage against Pep Guardiola's side. Then he spun and charged towards the touchline to greet Xabi Alonso, the manager under pressure for whom this could represent an even greater relief.

“It’s a tough moment for him, like it is for us,” Rodrygo said. “Things are not going our way and I wanted to demonstrate the public that we are united with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo made his comments, the advantage had been surrendered, another loss taking its place. City had come back, going 2-1 ahead with “minimal”, Alonso observed. That can happen when you’re in a “delicate” situation, he elaborated, but at least Madrid had reacted. This time, they could not engineer a recovery. Endrick, brought on having played very little all season, hit the crossbar in the closing stages.

A Delayed Verdict

“It proved insufficient,” Rodrygo admitted. The issue was whether it would be sufficient for Alonso to keep his position. “We didn't view it as [this was a trial of the coach],” veteran keeper Thibaut Courtois insisted, but that was how it had been portrayed in the media, and how it was understood behind closed doors. “Our performance proved that we’re behind the manager: we have played well, provided 100%,” Courtois added. And so the axe was reserved, consequences delayed, with matches against Alavés and Sevilla imminent.

A Distinct Form of Defeat

Madrid had been overcome at home for the second occasion in four days, perpetuating their poor form to a mere pair of successes in eight, but this seemed a little different. This was the Premier League champions, not a lesser opponent. Simplified, they had competed with intensity, the most obvious and most critical accusation not aimed at them on this night. With a host of first-teamers out injured, they had lost only to a opportunistic strike and a penalty, almost salvaging something at the final whistle. There were “a lot of very good things” about this showing, the manager said, and there could be “no blame” of his players, not this time.

The Stadium's Ambivalent Response

That was not completely the complete picture. There were moments in the second half, as discontent grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had voiced its disapproval. At the conclusion, a section of supporters had continued, although there was likewise some applause. But primarily, there was a subdued stream to the doors. “That’s normal, we understand it,” Rodrygo commented. Alonso remarked: “There's nothing that is unprecedented before. And there were moments when they clapped too.”

Dressing Room Support Is Evident

“I feel the support of the players,” Alonso said. And if he backed them, they stood by him too, at least for the cameras. There has been a unification, conversations: the coach had considered them, maybe more than they had embraced him, reaching common ground not quite in the compromise.

Whether durable a solution that is remains an unresolved issue. One seemingly minor exchange in the after-game press conference seemed significant. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s suggestion to stick to his principles, Alonso had let that idea to linger, responding: “I have a good connection with Pep, we understand each other well and he understands what he is saying.”

A Basis of Resistance

Most importantly though, he could be satisfied that there was a fight, a pushback. Madrid’s players had not abandoned their coach during the game and after it they defended him. This support may have been performative, done out of professionalism or self-interest, but in this tense environment, it was significant. The intensity with which they played had been as well – even if there is a risk of the most fundamental of standards somehow being promoted as a type of achievement.

In the build-up, Aurélien Tchouaméni had stated firmly the coach had a plan, that their shortcomings were not his doing. “In my view my colleague Aurélien put it perfectly in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said after full-time. “The key is [for] the players to change the approach. The attitude is the key thing and today we have observed a difference.”

Jude Bellingham, asked if they were behind the coach, also replied with a figure: “100%.”

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

“I think the coach has been great. I myself have a great relationship with him,” Bellingham concluded. “Following the spell of games where we tied a few, we had some really great conversations behind the scenes.”

“All things concludes in the end,” Alonso philosophized, maybe talking as much about adversity as his own predicament.