Xabi Alonso Navigating a Precarious Line at the Bernabéu Amidst Player Endorsement.

No forward in Los Blancos' record books had endured failing to find the net for as such a duration as Rodrygo, but finally he was unleashed and he had a message to deliver, performed for the cameras. The Brazilian, who had not scored in nine months and was beginning only his fifth appearance this campaign, beat custodian Gianluigi Donnarumma to hand his team the lead against Pep Guardiola's side. Then he wheeled and ran towards the touchline to hug Xabi Alonso, the boss in the spotlight for whom this could signal an even greater release.

“It’s a difficult moment for him, just as it is for us,” Rodrygo said. “Performances are not going our way and I wanted to demonstrate people that we are united with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo spoke, the advantage had been lost, another loss ensuing. City had come back, taking 2-1 ahead with “very little”, Alonso remarked. That can transpire when you’re in a “delicate” situation, he continued, but at least Madrid had fought back. This time, they could not engineer a turnaround. Endrick, on as a substitute having played very little all season, hit the woodwork in the dying moments.

A Delayed Verdict

“It wasn’t enough,” Rodrygo conceded. The issue was whether it would be adequate for Alonso to keep his role. “We didn’t feel that [this was a trial of the coach],” goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois insisted, but that was how it had been presented externally, and how it was perceived internally. “We have shown that we’re with the manager: we have performed creditably, provided 100%,” Courtois affirmed. And so the final decision was reserved, consequences pending, with matches against Alavés and Sevilla looming.

A More Credible Form of Defeat

Madrid had been defeated at home for the second time in four days, extending their recent run to a mere pair of successes in eight, but this felt a more respectable. This was the Premier League champions, as opposed to a domestic opponent. Stripped down, they had competed with intensity, the simplest and most critical accusation not directed at them this time. With multiple players 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 performance, the manager stated, and there could be “no blame” of his players, not this time.

The Stadium's Ambivalent Reception

That was not entirely the full story. There were moments in the closing 45 minutes, as discontent grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had jeered. At the final whistle, a section of supporters had repeated that, although there was also some applause. But primarily, there was a muted flow to the subway. “That’s normal, we accept it,” Rodrygo noted. Alonso added: “This is nothing that is unprecedented before. And there were moments when they applauded too.”

Squad Backing Remains Evident

“I have the backing of the players,” Alonso said. And if he stood by them, they backed him too, at least towards the media. There has been a unification, conversations: the coach had considered them, perhaps more than they had accommodated him, reaching a point not quite in the center.

How lasting a remedy that is is still an matter of debate. One small exchange in the after-game press conference seemed telling. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s counsel to follow his own path, Alonso had allowed that notion to linger, responding: “I have a good relationship with Pep, we know each other well and he understands what he is implying.”

A Foundation of Fight

Most importantly though, he could be content that there was a spirit, a reaction. Madrid’s players had not abandoned their coach during the game and after it they defended him. Part of it may have been theatrical, done out of professionalism or self-interest, but in this tense environment, it was significant. The intensity with which they played had been equally so – even if there is a danger of the most basic of standards somehow being promoted as a kind of achievement.

The previous day, Aurélien Tchouaméni had stated firmly the coach had a vision, that their shortcomings were not his responsibility. “I think my teammate Aurélien said it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said post-match. “The only way is [for] the players to alter the approach. The attitude is the crucial element and today we have observed a change.”

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

“We’re still attempting to solve it in the locker room,” he said. “It's clear that the [outside] speculation will not be helpful so it is about attempting to sort it out in there.”

“In my opinion the coach has been excellent. I individually have a excellent relationship with him,” Bellingham stated. “Following the sequence of games where we tied a few, we had some honest conversations internally.”

“All things passes in the end,” Alonso philosophized, possibly referring as much about poor form as his own predicament.