Alonso Navigating a Fine Tightrope at Real Madrid Even With Dressing Room Endorsement.

No attacker in Los Blancos' annals had gone failing to find the net for as long as Rodrygo, but eventually he was released and he had a message to send, acted out for public consumption. The Brazilian, who had failed to score in almost a year and was beginning only his fifth match this campaign, beat shot-stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma to secure the lead against Manchester City. Then he spun and charged towards the touchline to hug Xabi Alonso, the boss on the edge for whom this could signal an more significant release.

“It’s a challenging time for him, similar to how it is for us,” Rodrygo stated. “Results aren't working out and I sought to demonstrate everyone that we are together with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo spoke, the lead had been taken from them, a defeat ensuing. City had reversed the score, going 2-1 ahead with “not much”, Alonso noted. That can occur when you’re in a “delicate” situation, he added, but at least Madrid had responded. Ultimately, they could not engineer a recovery. Endrick, brought on having played very little all season, rattled the crossbar in the final seconds.

A Delayed Sentence

“The effort fell short,” Rodrygo conceded. The issue was whether it would be sufficient for Alonso to hold onto his job. “We didn't view it as [this was a trial of the coach],” goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois remarked, but that was how it had been presented externally, and how it was felt privately. “We demonstrated that we’re behind the coach: we have performed creditably, offered 100%,” Courtois affirmed. And so the axe was reserved, sentencing suspended, with fixtures against Alavés and Sevilla looming.

A Distinct Form of Loss

Madrid had been beaten at home for the second match in four days, perpetuating their uninspiring streak to a mere pair of successes in eight, but this was a more respectable. This was the Premier League champions, not a lesser opponent. Simplified, they had competed with intensity, the simplest and most critical criticism not aimed at them on this night. With eight men out injured, they had lost only to a scrambled finish and a converted penalty, nearly earning something at the death. There were “a lot of very good things” about this showing, the head coach argued, and there could be “no blame” of his players, not this time.

The Fans' Ambivalent Reaction

That was not completely the complete picture. There were spells in the closing 45 minutes, as frustration grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had jeered. At full time, a section of supporters had repeated that, although there was in addition pockets of appreciation. But primarily, there was a muted flow to the subway. “That’s normal, we understand it,” Rodrygo said. Alonso remarked: “This is nothing that is unprecedented before. And there were times when they clapped too.”

Dressing Room Unity Is Evident

“I feel the support of the players,” Alonso declared. And if he supported them, they stood by him too, at least towards the cameras. There has been a unification, conversations: the coach had listened to them, arguably more than they had adapted to him, meeting somewhere not quite in the middle.

Whether durable a fix that is remains an matter of debate. One small moment in the after-game press conference seemed telling. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s suggestion to stick to his principles, Alonso had permitted that idea to linger, replying: “I share a good rapport with Pep, we know each other well and he is aware of what he is implying.”

A Basis of Fight

Above all though, he could be pleased that there was a spirit, a pushback. Madrid’s players had not given up during the game and after it they defended him. Some of this may have been performative, done out of obligation or self-preservation, but in this tense environment, it was important. The effort with which they played had been as well – even if there is a danger of the most elementary of requirements somehow being framed as a kind of achievement.

In the build-up, Aurélien Tchouaméni had argued the coach had a vision, that their shortcomings were not his responsibility. “I believe my colleague Aurélien nailed it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said after full-time. “The key is [for] the players to alter the approach. The attitude is the key thing and today we have observed a difference.”

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

“We’re still trying to figure it out in the changing room,” he elaborated. “We understand that the [outside] speculation will not be productive so it is about attempting to fix it in there.”

“I think the gaffer has been excellent. I personally have a great rapport with him,” Bellingham concluded. “After the spell of games where we drew a few, we had some very productive conversations internally.”

“Every situation ends in the end,” Alonso concluded, perhaps talking as much about adversity as his own predicament.