Manager Alonso Walking a Fine Line at Real Madrid Despite Squad Backing.

No offensive player in Real Madrid’s annals had endured failing to find the net for as long as Rodrygo, but eventually he was unleashed and he had a declaration to send, performed for the cameras. The Brazilian, who had not scored in almost a year and was commencing only his fifth game this campaign, beat custodian Gianluigi Donnarumma to secure the advantage against the English champions. Then he turned and ran towards the bench to hug Xabi Alonso, the coach under pressure for whom this could represent an more significant liberation.

“This is a tough time for him, just as it is for us,” Rodrygo said. “Performances aren’t coming off and I aimed to show people that we are together with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo addressed the media, the advantage had been taken from them, a defeat following. City had come back, going 2-1 ahead with “not much”, Alonso noted. That can happen when you’re in a “sensitive” condition, he continued, but at least Madrid had responded. Ultimately, they could not engineer a recovery. Endrick, introduced off the bench having played a handful of minutes all season, struck the bar in the dying moments.

A Suspended Verdict

“It proved insufficient,” Rodrygo conceded. The dilemma was whether it would be enough for Alonso to retain his position. “We didn’t feel that [this was a trial of the coach],” goalkeeper 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 supporting the coach: we have given a good account, offered 100%,” Courtois added. And so the final decision was withheld, consequences suspended, with games against Alavés and Sevilla looming.

A More Credible Type of Defeat

Madrid had been overcome at home for the second occasion in four days, perpetuating their recent run to two wins in eight, but this seemed a somewhat distinct. This was Manchester City, rather than a domestic opponent. Simplified, they had actually run, the most obvious and most critical charge not levelled at them in this instance. With eight men out injured, they had lost only to a opportunistic strike and a penalty, nearly salvaging something at the death. There were “numerous of very good things” about this showing, the boss stated, and there could be “no blame” of his players, on this occasion.

The Stadium's Muted Reaction

That was not completely the complete picture. There were spells in the closing 45 minutes, as discontent grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had jeered. At full time, a section of supporters had repeated that, although there was in addition sporadic clapping. But primarily, there was a muted stream to the subway. “That’s normal, we understand it,” Rodrygo noted. Alonso added: “This is nothing that is unprecedented before. And there were instances when they clapped too.”

Squad Support Remains Evident

“I feel the support of the players,” Alonso said. And if he stood by them, they backed him too, at least in front of the cameras. There has been a rapprochement, conversations: the coach had listened to them, maybe more than they had embraced him, reaching somewhere not precisely in the middle.

The longevity of a fix that is remains an matter of debate. One seemingly minor incident in the post-match press conference appeared notable. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s counsel to follow his own path, Alonso had permitted that notion to linger, answering: “I have a good relationship with Pep, we know each other well and he is aware of what he is implying.”

A Starting Point of Reaction

Crucially though, he could be pleased that there was a resistance, a pushback. Madrid’s players had not let Alonso fall during the game and after it they publicly backed him. Part of it may have been performative, done out of obligation or self-preservation, but in this climate, it was important. The intensity with which they played had been too – even if there is a risk of the most elementary of expectations somehow being elevated as a kind of achievement.

Earlier, Aurélien Tchouaméni had stated firmly the coach had a plan, that their failings were not his fault. “I think my colleague Aurélien nailed it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said post-match. “The sole solution is [for] the players to change the attitude. The attitude is the linchpin and today we have observed a change.”

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

“We’re still striving to figure it out in the locker room,” he continued. “We know that the [outside] chatter will not be productive so it is about trying to sort it out in there.”

“I think the gaffer has been great. I myself have a great relationship with him,” Bellingham concluded. “Following the sequence of games where we drew a few, we had some honest conversations among ourselves.”

“Everything passes in the end,” Alonso mused, perhaps speaking as much about adversity as his own predicament.