Xabi Alonso Navigating a Precarious Path at Madrid Despite Dressing Room Endorsement.

No forward in Los Blancos' annals had endured without a goal for as long as Rodrygo, but at last he was released and he had a statement to deliver, executed for public consumption. The Brazilian, who had been goalless in nine months and was starting only his fifth appearance this season, beat goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to secure the advantage against the English champions. Then he spun and sprinted towards the touchline to greet Xabi Alonso, the boss under pressure for whom this could prove an profound liberation.

“This is a challenging period for him, similar to how it is for us,” Rodrygo stated. “Performances are not going our way and I aimed to show people that we are as one with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo addressed the media, the advantage had been lost, a defeat following. City had reversed the score, going 2-1 ahead with “not much”, Alonso noted. That can happen when you’re in a “sensitive” situation, he continued, but at least Madrid had fought back. On this occasion, they could not engineer a turnaround. Endrick, on as a substitute having played very little all season, rattled the bar in the closing stages.

A Reserved Judgment

“It proved insufficient,” Rodrygo admitted. The dilemma was whether it would be sufficient for Alonso to hold onto his job. “That wasn't our perception [this was a trial of the coach],” goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois remarked, 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 behind the coach: we have played well, given 100%,” Courtois concluded. And so judgment was reserved, sentencing suspended, with games against Alavés and Sevilla on the horizon.

A Different Kind of Loss

Madrid had been defeated at home for the second match in four days, perpetuating their recent run to just two victories in eight, but this seemed a more respectable. This was the Premier League champions, rather than a lesser opponent. Streamlined, they had competed with intensity, the most obvious and most critical criticism not levelled at them on this night. With multiple players out injured, they had lost only to a scrambled finish and a spot-kick, coming close to earning something at the death. There were “a lot of very good things” about this performance, the head coach argued, and there could be “no reproach” of his players, on this occasion.

The Bernabéu's Ambivalent Response

That was not entirely the full story. There were periods in the latter period, as discontent grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had voiced its disapproval. At full time, a section of supporters had repeated that, although there was also sporadic clapping. But primarily, there was a subdued stream to the doors. “We understand that, we accept it,” Rodrygo said. Alonso remarked: “This is nothing that hasn’t happened before. And there were moments when they cheered too.”

Dressing Room Unity Stands Firm

“I sense the backing of the players,” Alonso said. And if he stood by them, they stood by him too, at least towards the cameras. There has been a unification, conversations: the coach had accommodated them, perhaps more than they had adapted to him, meeting somewhere not quite in the middle.

How lasting a remedy that is is still an open question. One little moment in the post-match press conference felt notable. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s advice to follow his own path, Alonso had let that notion to remain unanswered, responding: “I have a good relationship with Pep, we understand each other well and he is aware of what he is talking about.”

A Starting Point of Reaction

Above all though, he could be content that there was a fight, a reaction. Madrid’s players had not let Alonso fall during the game and after it they publicly backed him. This support may have been performative, done out of obligation or self-interest, but in this climate, it was significant. The effort with which they played had been too – even if there is a temptation of the most fundamental of requirements somehow being promoted as a type of success.

The previous day, Aurélien Tchouaméni had argued the coach had a plan, that their mistakes were not his doing. “I think my colleague Aurélien nailed it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said post-match. “The key is [for] the players to improve the mindset. The attitude is the key thing and today we have witnessed a change.”

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

“We persist in striving to solve it in the changing room,” he continued. “We understand that the [outside] chatter will not be productive so it is about trying to resolve it in there.”

“In my opinion the gaffer has been excellent. I personally have a excellent relationship with him,” Bellingham concluded. “Following the sequence of games where we were held a few, we had some really great conversations among ourselves.”

“Every situation ends in the end,” Alonso concluded, possibly referring as much about adversity as anything else.