Alonso Walking a Precarious Line at Madrid Despite Dressing Room Endorsement.

No attacker in the club's history had experienced failing to find the net for as such a duration as Rodrygo, but at last he was freed and he had a statement to broadcast, acted out for public consumption. The Brazilian, who had failed to score in an extended drought and was beginning only his fifth match this season, beat custodian Gianluigi Donnarumma to hand his team the lead against Manchester City. Then he spun and charged towards the touchline to greet Xabi Alonso, the manager on the edge for whom this could prove an more significant liberation.

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

By the time Rodrygo spoke, the lead had been lost, a defeat ensuing. City had turned it around, going 2-1 ahead with “very little”, Alonso remarked. That can transpire when you’re in a “delicate” situation, he added, but at least Madrid had fought back. This time, they could not engineer a comeback. Endrick, brought on having played very little all season, struck the crossbar in the dying moments.

A Delayed Judgment

“It wasn’t enough,” Rodrygo said. The issue was whether it would be adequate for Alonso to hold onto his position. “That wasn't our perception [this was a trial of the coach],” veteran keeper Thibaut Courtois insisted, but that was how it had been presented externally, and how it was perceived internally. “We have shown that we’re supporting the coach: we have played well, offered 100%,” Courtois affirmed. And so judgment was withheld, consequences delayed, with games against Alavés and Sevilla looming.

A Different Type of Loss

Madrid had been beaten at home for the second match in four days, extending their uninspiring streak to a mere pair of successes in eight, but this seemed a somewhat distinct. This was Manchester City, as opposed to a La Liga opponent. Streamlined, they had competed with intensity, the easiest and most critical criticism not levelled at them in this instance. With multiple players out injured, they had lost only to a opportunistic strike and a penalty, coming close to earning something at the final whistle. There were “numerous of very good things” about this performance, the boss argued, and there could be “no blame” of his players, tonight.

The Fans' Ambivalent Response

That was not entirely the full story. There were moments in the second half, as discontent grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had whistled. At full time, some of supporters had done so again, although there was also pockets of appreciation. But mostly, there was a subdued stream to the subway. “That’s normal, we accept it,” Rodrygo said. Alonso added: “It’s nothing that hasn’t happened before. And there were times when they applauded too.”

Dressing Room Backing Remains Strong

“I sense the confidence of the players,” Alonso said. And if he supported them, they stood by him too, at least in front of the media. There has been a coming together, conversations: the coach had considered them, maybe more than they had embraced him, meeting common ground not precisely in the middle.

How lasting a solution that is remains an unresolved issue. One little exchange in the after-game press conference appeared notable. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s advice to do things his way, Alonso had allowed that implication to linger, responding: “I have a good rapport with Pep, we know each other well and he understands what he is talking about.”

A Starting Point of Fight

Crucially though, he could be satisfied that there was a spirit, a pushback. Madrid’s players had not given up during the game and after it they stood up for him. Part of it may have been theatrical, done out of duty or mutual survival, but in this context, it was significant. The intensity with which they played had been equally so – even if there is a risk of the most elementary of requirements somehow being promoted as a kind of positive.

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

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

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

“Personally, I feel the gaffer has been superb. I myself have a excellent relationship with him,” Bellingham stated. “Following the sequence of games where we drew a few, we had some very productive conversations internally.”

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