🔗 Share this article Alonso Battles for His Future in Fresh Edition of Contemporary Showdown “We are a united club, a team, and we all move forward together,” the manager declared, maybe asserting a tad forcefully. “Being the manager of Real Madrid means you are always prepared,” he remarked on the morning before Manchester City return to the Santiago Bernabéu for a new instalment of a contemporary rivalry. “I anticipate the challenge ahead, starting tomorrow—an opening to redirect the disappointment. Our minds are fixed solely on City. Football, for better or worse, is a game of swift changes.” Failure and things could shift instantly, and permanently: this moment is an imperative, too. Urgent Meetings After Desperate Home Defeat Following Madrid’s desperately poor 2-0 home defeat on Sunday, Alonso revealed he had “reached some conclusions,” and he was far from the only one. Long after the final whistle, crisis talks carried on, the club’s hierarchy reaching their own verdicts after a solitary triumph in five league games. Their diagnoses were divergent and while severe measures are being postponed, patience is finite, the names of possible successors already in the public domain. “You have to face those situations but my head’s only on the game, things I can control,” Alonso commented “For sure the coach had a good plan but, in the end we, the players, are the ones on the pitch,” the French midfielder remarked. “Losing by two goals to Celta points to a deficiency in our performance, not the coach's planning.” A Rapid Decline After Initial Promise City will be his twenty-eighth match in charge of Madrid and it may prove to be his farewell at a club where a turmoil is always just two losses around the corner, where even ties are unacceptable, and there’s perpetually an alternative who can coach. Things have indeed shifted swiftly, even if the seeds of the problem were there from the start. Sold as a structured planner, the ideal solution after a season of permissiveness and underachievement, Alonso was counter-cultural at a squad-centric organization. When Madrid secured victory against Barcelona in late October, they established a five-point lead at the top. They had triumphed in twelve out of thirteen competitive games, although the loss had been heavy: 5-2 at Atlético. It also exposed fissures. Replaced in the 72nd minute, Vinícius Júnior headed directly for the dressing room, seemingly ready to quit the club. In a statement a few days later he said sorry to all but Alonso. At the executive level, rather than backing the coach, there was a conspicuous quiet. Frictions Brought to the Surface Behind the scenes, the assessment was obvious: Alonso shouldn’t have taken Vinícius off. Questioned on this point if he would do that again, Alonso responded: “The intent behind that question eludes me. When a situation on the pitch demands a choice, I make it.” Strains had been laid bare, a rift between manager and certain squad members. Federico Valverde too had made his frustrations public. The components weren't meshing as they should. A familiar lament began to emerge about all the directives, the video analysis, the extended practices. Who did he think he was, the manager?! Over a week after the clásico, Madrid were overcome at Liverpool, starting a sequence of two wins in seven. Able to play direct, they overcame Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao but between those tied with Rayo, Elche and Girona. Eventually, talks were held to fix fault lines or at least cover cracks, to restore tranquility. Focus turned on the footballers for the first time. A Temporary Rapprochement In Bilbao, where they had been brought together a day early, it seemed some compromise had been found; Alonso accommodating their demands more than they did his. A thawing of relations was orchestrated when Vinícius greeted the manager as he departed. Two days off followed. A few days after, though, Celta defeated them and so it disintegrates anew. That it is public knowledge that Alonso’s future is on the line is as notable as the fact it is. If Madrid beat City, that can always be rebutted, but it is intentional. Alonso knows that. He also knows, for all that he tried to talk about fitness issues and injustice, not even truly persuading himself, Madrid were dreadful against Celta: an absence of character, no attitude, no structure. The Gaffer: The Most Obvious Solution But the most vulnerable point, is always the manager, and Alonso’s future, more than the on-pitch performance, was the central theme to this game. However much the man who is still Madrid’s manager kept trying to redirect attention to the match, which he did with almost every response. The shortest answer he gave might have been the most telling, had he truly believed it. Asked if he felt the complete roster was behind him, Alonso replied in a solitary term: “yes.” “Managing Real Madrid doesn't involve transforming the culture; it requires fitting in,” Alonso stated. “The culture of Real Madrid is well-known to us; it's the reason for its status as the world's premier club. Adaptation, continuous learning, and player communication are key. There will be highs and lows. Meeting challenges with drive and a positive mindset is the only route to improvement.” It was when he was asked if he felt by himself that Alonso talked of a unit, a club, that goes in unison, and when attention was turned to the question of backing or its absence from above, he answered: “Our contact with the board is continuous, stemming from belief, solidarity, and care. We stand as one in this situation. Our mindset is geared to confront all obstacles: the team is cohesive, fully believing we can triumph tomorrow, with absolute certainty. It's the Champions League. The Bernabéu is our stage. The ambiance will be unforgettable. That fosters a distinct vitality, particularly within the squad.”