Manager Alonso Walking a Fine Tightrope at Madrid Despite Squad Endorsement.

No attacker in the club's annals had gone scoreless for as long as Rodrygo, but finally he was unleashed and he had a statement to send, performed for the cameras. The Brazilian, who had not scored in an extended drought and was starting only his fifth match this term, beat custodian Gianluigi Donnarumma to secure the lead against Manchester City. Then he turned and ran towards the sideline to embrace Xabi Alonso, the boss in the spotlight for whom this could prove an more significant release.

“This is a tough moment for him, just as it is for us,” Rodrygo said. “Results aren't working out and I wanted to show the public that we are united with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo spoke, the lead had been lost, another loss taking its place. City had turned it around, taking 2-1 ahead with “very little”, Alonso observed. That can transpire when you’re in a “delicate” state, he elaborated, but at least Madrid had responded. This time, they could not complete a turnaround. Endrick, brought on having played a handful of minutes all season, hit the bar in the dying moments.

A Suspended Sentence

“The effort fell short,” Rodrygo admitted. The dilemma was whether it would be enough for Alonso to hold onto his position. “That wasn't our perception [this was a trial of the coach],” goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois stated, but that was how it had been framed publicly, and how it was perceived internally. “We have shown that we’re with the coach: we have played well, given 100%,” Courtois concluded. And so judgment was withheld, any action suspended, with matches against Alavés and Sevilla on the horizon.

A Distinct Type of Defeat

Madrid had been overcome at home for the second match in four days, continuing their poor form to a mere pair of successes in eight, but this seemed a little different. This was the Premier League champions, rather than a La Liga opponent. Streamlined, they had actually run, the simplest and most critical accusation not directed at them this time. With a host of first-teamers out injured, they had lost only to a messy goal and a converted penalty, nearly salvaging something at the death. There were “a lot of very good things” about this showing, the head coach said, and there could be “no reproach” of his players, tonight.

The Fans' Mixed Response

That was not completely the complete picture. There were periods in the latter period, as irritation grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had jeered. At the conclusion, a portion of supporters had done so again, although there was in addition sporadic clapping. But mostly, there was a quiet stream to the subway. “That’s normal, we understand it,” Rodrygo noted. Alonso remarked: “There's nothing that is unprecedented before. And there were instances when they applauded too.”

Dressing Room Support Remains Firm

“I have the support of the players,” Alonso said. And if he stood by them, they supported him too, at least in front of the media. There has been a coming together, conversations: the coach had listened to them, perhaps more than they had embraced him, meeting somewhere not precisely in the compromise.

The longevity of a solution that is is still an unresolved issue. One seemingly minor incident in the post-match press conference appeared telling. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s advice to stick to his principles, Alonso had let that idea to remain unanswered, responding: “I have a good relationship with Pep, we know each other well and he understands what he is saying.”

A Starting Point of Reaction

Crucially though, he could be satisfied that there was a fight, 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 professionalism or mutual survival, but in this tense environment, it was meaningful. The intensity with which they played had been too – even if there is a danger of the most basic of requirements somehow being promoted as a type of success.

The previous day, Aurélien Tchouaméni had insisted the coach had a plan, that their shortcomings were not his fault. “I believe my colleague Aurélien nailed it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said after full-time. “The key is [for] the players to change the approach. The attitude is the linchpin and today we have observed a change.”

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

“We’re still striving to solve it in the locker room,” he continued. “It's clear that the [outside] noise will not be beneficial so it is about trying to resolve it in there.”

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

“Everything ends in the end,” Alonso philosophized, possibly referring as much about poor form as his own predicament.