Manager Alonso Walking a Precarious Line at the Bernabéu Even With Player Backing.

No forward in Real Madrid’s history had experienced without a goal for as extended a period as Rodrygo, but finally he was unleashed and he had a declaration to broadcast, acted out for the world to see. The Brazilian, who had failed to score in nine months and was starting only his fifth game this campaign, beat custodian Gianluigi Donnarumma to give them the lead against the English champions. Then he wheeled and charged towards the touchline to embrace Xabi Alonso, the boss under pressure for whom this could signal an even greater relief.

“It’s a tough time for him, like it is for us,” Rodrygo said. “Performances are not going our way and I aimed to show people that we are together with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo spoke, the advantage had been taken from them, a setback ensuing. City had reversed the score, taking 2-1 ahead with “not much”, Alonso noted. That can transpire when you’re in a “fragile” condition, he elaborated, but at least Madrid had fought back. On this occasion, they could not complete a comeback. Endrick, brought on having played very little all season, struck the bar in the dying moments.

A Suspended Verdict

“The effort fell short,” Rodrygo conceded. The dilemma was whether it would be enough for Alonso to hold onto his role. “We didn’t feel that [this was a trial of the coach],” veteran keeper Thibaut Courtois stated, but that was how it had been framed publicly, and how it was felt privately. “We demonstrated that we’re with the manager: we have performed creditably, given 100%,” Courtois affirmed. And so judgment was postponed, any action suspended, with fixtures against Alavés and Sevilla on the horizon.

A Distinct Form of Setback

Madrid had been overcome at home for the second occasion in four days, continuing their recent run to a mere pair of successes in eight, but this felt a more respectable. This was Manchester City, rather than a lesser opponent. Streamlined, they had shown fight, the most obvious and most critical criticism not directed at them on this night. With multiple players out injured, they had lost only to a messy goal and a penalty, almost securing something at the final whistle. There were “a lot of very good things” about this showing, the head coach stated, and there could be “no reproach” of his players, tonight.

The Stadium's Ambivalent Reception

That was not completely the full story. There were periods in the latter period, as frustration grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had whistled. At the final whistle, a section of supporters had continued, although there was in addition sporadic clapping. But for the most part, there was a muted stream to the subway. “That’s normal, we accept it,” Rodrygo noted. Alonso remarked: “It’s nothing that is unprecedented before. And there were moments when they clapped too.”

Dressing Room Unity Remains Firm

“I have the support of the players,” Alonso affirmed. And if he stood by them, they supported him too, at least for the cameras. There has been a unification, discussions: the coach had listened to them, maybe more than they had adapted to him, reaching somewhere not quite in the middle.

The longevity of a fix that is is still an unresolved issue. One little moment in the after-game press conference seemed notable. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s counsel to do things his way, Alonso had allowed that notion to hang there, answering: “I share a good rapport with Pep, we understand each other well and he understands what he is implying.”

A Basis of Fight

Most importantly though, he could be content that there was a fight, a pushback. Madrid’s players had not given up during the game and after it they publicly backed him. Part of it may have been performative, done out of obligation or mutual survival, but in this tense environment, it was significant. The intensity with which they played had been equally so – even if there is a danger of the most fundamental of requirements somehow being elevated as a kind of achievement.

In the build-up, Aurélien Tchouaméni had argued the coach had a vision, that their failings were not his fault. “I think my teammate Aurélien said it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said post-match. “The only way is [for] the players to change the approach. The attitude is the key thing and today we have observed a difference.”

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

“We are continuing attempting to solve it in the locker room,” he elaborated. “We understand that the [outside] chatter will not be helpful so it is about striving to fix it in there.”

“In my opinion the manager has been great. I personally have a excellent rapport with him,” Bellingham concluded. “After the spell of games where we tied a few, we had some very productive conversations among ourselves.”

“Every situation passes in the end,” Alonso concluded, possibly talking as much about poor form as everything.