Xabi Alonso Walking a Precarious Tightrope at Madrid Amidst Dressing Room Support.

No offensive player in the club's annals had experienced without a goal for as extended a period as Rodrygo, but at last he was freed and he had a message to deliver, acted out for the world to see. The Brazilian, who had failed to score in nine months and was beginning only his fifth game this campaign, beat shot-stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma to give them the opening goal against Manchester City. Then he spun and charged towards the bench to hug Xabi Alonso, the coach on the edge for whom this could signal an even greater relief.

“This is a tough period for him, like it is for us,” Rodrygo commented. “Results aren't working out and I wanted to show people that we are as one with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo spoke, the lead had been taken from them, a defeat taking its place. City had reversed the score, taking 2-1 ahead with “very little”, Alonso observed. That can occur when you’re in a “fragile” condition, he continued, but at least Madrid had reacted. On this occasion, they could not pull off a comeback. Endrick, brought on having played a handful of minutes all season, hit the bar in the closing stages.

A Suspended Verdict

“It proved insufficient,” Rodrygo admitted. The issue was whether it would be sufficient for Alonso to hold onto his position. “We didn't view it as [this was a trial of the coach],” veteran keeper Thibaut Courtois remarked, but that was how it had been presented externally, and how it was felt privately. “Our performance proved that we’re with the manager: we have performed creditably, offered 100%,” Courtois concluded. And so the axe was withheld, consequences pending, with games against Alavés and Sevilla looming.

A Distinct Kind of Loss

Madrid had been overcome at home for the second time in four days, continuing their recent run to a mere pair of successes in eight, but this felt a more respectable. This was a European powerhouse, not a lesser opponent. Streamlined, they had actually run, the most obvious and most damning charge not levelled at them on this night. With eight men out injured, they had lost only to a scrambled finish and a converted penalty, coming close to earning something at the end. There were “a lot of very good things” about this performance, the manager argued, and there could be “no reproach” of his players, not this time.

The Fans' Muted Reaction

That was not entirely the full story. There were moments in the closing 45 minutes, as frustration grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had whistled. At the conclusion, a portion of supporters had continued, although there was also some applause. But mostly, there was a muted flow to the doors. “We understand that, we understand it,” Rodrygo commented. Alonso stated: “There's nothing that is unprecedented before. And there were instances when they applauded too.”

Player Unity Is Strong

“I feel the backing of the players,” Alonso affirmed. And if he supported them, they supported him too, at least towards the public. There has been a rapprochement, conversations: the coach had accommodated them, maybe more than they had embraced him, meeting somewhere not exactly in the center.

The longevity of a solution that is continues to be an open question. One little moment in the after-game press conference seemed notable. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s counsel to follow his own path, Alonso had allowed that idea to remain unanswered, responding: “I share a good relationship with Pep, we understand each other well and he is aware of what he is implying.”

A Starting Point of Fight

Above all though, he could be satisfied that there was a fight, a response. Madrid’s players had not given up during the game and after it they stood up for him. Part of it may have been for show, done out of obligation or mutual survival, but in this context, it was important. The effort with which they played had been equally so – even if there is a risk of the most fundamental of standards somehow being framed as a type of success.

The previous day, Aurélien Tchouaméni had insisted the coach had a vision, that their shortcomings were not his doing. “In my view my colleague Aurélien put it perfectly in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said post-match. “The only way is [for] the players to improve the attitude. The attitude is the linchpin and today we have observed a difference.”

Jude Bellingham, pressed if they were behind the coach, also replied quantitatively: “100%.”

“We’re still striving to figure it out in the locker room,” he elaborated. “We understand that the [outside] speculation will not be productive so it is about trying to fix it in there.”

“In my opinion the gaffer has been excellent. I myself have a strong relationship with him,” Bellingham concluded. “Following the spell of games where we drew a few, we had some honest conversations among ourselves.”

“All things passes in the end,” Alonso mused, possibly speaking as much about adversity as anything else.