Xabi Alonso Navigating a Fine Line at Real Madrid Despite Squad Backing.

No offensive player in the club's record books had gone without a goal for as long as Rodrygo, but at last he was released and he had a statement to send, performed for the world to see. The Brazilian, who had been goalless in almost a year and was starting only his fifth match this campaign, beat custodian Gianluigi Donnarumma to hand his team the advantage against Pep Guardiola's side. Then he wheeled and charged towards the touchline to greet Xabi Alonso, the coach under pressure for whom this could represent an even greater relief.

“It’s a tough time for him, just as it is for us,” Rodrygo said. “Performances aren't working out and I sought to demonstrate people that we are united with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo addressed the media, the advantage had been taken from them, a defeat taking its place. City had turned it around, going 2-1 ahead with “not much”, Alonso observed. That can transpire when you’re in a “sensitive” condition, he continued, but at least Madrid had responded. Ultimately, they could not engineer a turnaround. Endrick, introduced off the bench having played very little all season, rattled the bar in the closing stages.

A Suspended Verdict

“It proved insufficient,” Rodrygo admitted. The issue was whether it would be enough for Alonso to keep his position. “We didn’t feel that [this was a trial of the coach],” veteran keeper Thibaut Courtois remarked, but that was how it had been framed publicly, and how it was perceived internally. “We demonstrated that we’re with the coach: we have played well, offered 100%,” Courtois affirmed. And so judgment was postponed, any action suspended, with fixtures against Alavés and Sevilla on the horizon.

A More Credible Type of Loss

Madrid had been defeated at home for the second match in four days, extending their poor form to a mere pair of successes in eight, but this seemed a somewhat distinct. This was Manchester City, rather than a lesser opponent. Streamlined, they had actually run, the most obvious and most damning accusation not aimed at them on this night. With eight men out injured, they had lost only to a scrambled finish and a penalty, coming close to earning something at the end. There were “a lot of very good things” about this showing, the boss said, and there could be “no reproach” of his players, not this time.

The Stadium's Mixed Response

That was not always the full story. There were moments in the second half, as frustration grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had jeered. At the final whistle, some of supporters had repeated that, although there was also sporadic clapping. But for the most part, there was a muted procession to the exits. “It's to be expected, we comprehend it,” Rodrygo said. Alonso stated: “This is nothing that hasn’t happened before. And there were instances when they cheered too.”

Player Support Remains Evident

“I sense the backing of the players,” Alonso declared. And if he stood by them, they stood by him too, at least towards the public. There has been a coming together, talks: the coach had considered them, maybe more than they had accommodated him, meeting somewhere not exactly in the center.

The longevity of a solution that is continues to be an matter of debate. One small moment in the after-game press conference felt telling. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s advice to do things his way, Alonso had allowed that idea to hang there, replying: “I have a good connection with Pep, we understand each other well and he is aware of what he is implying.”

A Basis of Fight

Above all though, he could be content that there was a spirit, a pushback. Madrid’s players had not let Alonso fall during the game and after it they stood up for him. Some of this may have been for show, done out of duty or mutual survival, but in this tense environment, it was important. The commitment with which they played had been too – even if there is a risk of the most basic of standards somehow being promoted as a form of positive.

The previous day, Aurélien Tchouaméni had insisted the coach had a vision, that their failings were not his fault. “I think my colleague Aurélien said it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said after full-time. “The key is [for] the players to alter the attitude. The attitude is the key thing and today we have seen a change.”

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

“We are continuing trying to figure it out in the locker room,” he elaborated. “We understand that the [outside] chatter will not be beneficial so it is about attempting to resolve it in there.”

“Personally, I feel the manager has been superb. I personally have a strong relationship with him,” Bellingham concluded. “Following the spell of games where we were held a few, we had some honest conversations behind the scenes.”

“Everything concludes in the end,” Alonso concluded, possibly speaking as much about a difficult spell as anything else.