Xabi Alonso Treading a Thin Tightrope at the Bernabéu Amidst Dressing Room Backing.

No attacker in Real Madrid’s history had gone without a goal for as extended a period as Rodrygo, but eventually he was unleashed and he had a statement to deliver, performed for public consumption. The Brazilian, who had failed to score in nine months and was commencing only his fifth appearance this term, beat shot-stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma to hand his team the lead against Pep Guardiola's side. Then he spun and charged towards the bench to hug Xabi Alonso, the coach on the edge for whom this could prove an profound release.

“This is a tough moment for him, similar to how it is for us,” Rodrygo stated. “Things aren't working out and I sought to demonstrate people that we are together with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo spoke, the lead had been taken from them, a setback following. City had turned it around, taking 2-1 ahead with “not much”, Alonso observed. That can happen when you’re in a “fragile” state, he added, but at least Madrid had responded. Ultimately, they could not engineer a turnaround. Endrick, brought on having played 11 minutes all season, hit the crossbar in the final seconds.

A Reserved Verdict

“It proved insufficient,” Rodrygo conceded. The question 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 insisted, but that was how it had been portrayed in the media, and how it was perceived internally. “Our performance proved that we’re with the coach: we have played well, offered 100%,” Courtois added. And so the axe was postponed, any action delayed, with fixtures against Alavés and Sevilla imminent.

A More Credible Kind of Loss

Madrid had been defeated at home for the second occasion in four days, perpetuating their uninspiring streak to just two victories in eight, but this felt a somewhat distinct. This was Manchester City, rather than a lesser opponent. Simplified, they had shown fight, the most obvious and most harsh criticism not aimed at them this time. With a host of first-teamers out injured, they had lost only to a messy goal and a spot-kick, nearly securing something at the death. There were “a lot of very good things” about this display, the head coach stated, and there could be “no criticism” of his players, on this occasion.

The Stadium's Mixed Reaction

That was not completely the full story. There were spells in the latter period, as irritation grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had voiced its disapproval. At full time, a section of supporters had repeated that, although there was in addition pockets of appreciation. But for the most part, there was a subdued stream to the doors. “That’s normal, we comprehend it,” Rodrygo commented. Alonso remarked: “There's nothing that is unprecedented before. And there were instances when they clapped too.”

Squad Backing Is Evident

“I feel the backing of the players,” Alonso affirmed. And if he backed them, they stood by him too, at least towards the cameras. There has been a unification, talks: the coach had considered them, arguably more than they had accommodated him, reaching somewhere not quite in the compromise.

Whether durable a solution that is continues to be an matter of debate. One seemingly minor exchange in the after-game press conference felt telling. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s counsel to do things his way, Alonso had allowed that implication to linger, replying: “I have a good rapport with Pep, we know each other well and he knows what he is implying.”

A Foundation of Reaction

Crucially though, he could be pleased that there was a resistance, a reaction. Madrid’s players had not abandoned their coach during the game and after it they stood up for him. Part of it may have been performative, done out of professionalism or self-preservation, but in this climate, it was significant. The commitment with which they played had been as well – even if there is a risk of the most elementary of standards somehow being elevated as a form of success.

The previous day, Aurélien Tchouaméni had insisted the coach had a strategy, that their mistakes were not his fault. “I think my colleague Aurélien said it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said after full-time. “The sole solution is [for] the players to improve the mindset. The attitude is the key thing and today we have witnessed a difference.”

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

“We persist in trying to figure it out in the changing room,” he said. “We understand that the [outside] noise will not be beneficial so it is about striving to resolve it in there.”

“I think the manager has been great. I personally have a great rapport with him,” Bellingham added. “Following the sequence of games where we tied a few, we had some honest conversations internally.”

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