Manager Alonso Navigating a Precarious Line at Real Madrid Despite Squad Support.

No attacker in Los Blancos' record books had endured failing to find the net for as such a duration as Rodrygo, but finally he was freed and he had a declaration to deliver, acted out for the cameras. The Brazilian, who had failed to score in almost a year and was beginning only his fifth game this campaign, beat custodian Gianluigi Donnarumma to secure the advantage against the English champions. Then he spun and ran towards the bench to hug Xabi Alonso, the manager under pressure for whom this could prove an even greater liberation.

“It’s a tough moment for him, like it is for us,” Rodrygo said. “Results aren’t coming off and I sought to prove people that we are together with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo made his comments, the lead had been taken from them, a setback taking its place. City had come back, going 2-1 ahead with “very little”, Alonso observed. That can occur when you’re in a “delicate” state, he added, but at least Madrid had fought back. This time, they could not engineer a comeback. Endrick, brought on having played a handful of minutes all season, hit the woodwork in the closing stages.

A Delayed Sentence

“It wasn’t enough,” Rodrygo said. The issue was whether it would be adequate for Alonso to retain his role. “We didn’t feel that [this was a trial of the coach],” veteran keeper Thibaut Courtois remarked, but that was how it had been presented externally, and how it was felt privately. “Our performance proved that we’re behind the coach: we have given a good account, offered 100%,” Courtois concluded. And so judgment was postponed, any action delayed, with matches against Alavés and Sevilla on the horizon.

A More Credible Kind of Setback

Madrid had been defeated at home for the second match in four days, continuing their uninspiring streak to two wins in eight, but this was a more respectable. This was a European powerhouse, as opposed to a La Liga opponent. Simplified, they had actually run, the most obvious and most damning criticism not levelled at them on this night. With a host of first-teamers out injured, they had lost only to a opportunistic strike and a converted penalty, coming close to earning something at the death. There were “many of very good things” about this showing, the head coach argued, and there could be “no criticism” of his players, tonight.

The Bernabéu's Muted Response

That was not always the full story. There were moments in the closing 45 minutes, as irritation grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had whistled. At the conclusion, a section of supporters had repeated that, although there was also pockets of appreciation. But for the most part, there was a quiet procession to the subway. “That’s normal, we understand it,” Rodrygo said. Alonso added: “It’s nothing that doesn't occur before. And there were times when they applauded too.”

Squad Support Stands Evident

“I have the confidence of the players,” Alonso affirmed. And if he backed them, they supported him too, at least in front of the cameras. There has been a coming together, conversations: the coach had listened to them, perhaps more than they had embraced him, reaching somewhere not quite in the center.

How lasting a fix that is continues to be an unresolved issue. One small moment in the post-match press conference appeared notable. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s counsel to stick to his principles, Alonso had allowed that notion to remain unanswered, answering: “I have a good rapport with Pep, we understand each other well and he is aware of what he is talking about.”

A Basis of Reaction

Above all though, he could be satisfied that there was a spirit, a response. Madrid’s players had not given up during the game and after it they publicly backed him. Part of it may have been theatrical, done out of professionalism or self-interest, but in this context, it was important. The commitment with which they played had been equally so – even if there is a risk of the most elementary of requirements somehow being framed as a form of positive.

In the build-up, Aurélien Tchouaméni had argued the coach had a plan, that their shortcomings were not his fault. “In my view my teammate Aurélien said it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said post-match. “The key is [for] the players to improve the approach. The attitude is the key thing and today we have seen a change.”

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

“We are continuing trying to work it out in the dressing room,” he said. “We understand that the [outside] noise will not be productive so it is about attempting to sort it out in there.”

“In my opinion the coach has been superb. I myself have a strong connection with him,” Bellingham added. “Following the sequence of games where we drew a few, we had some very productive conversations internally.”

“Every situation ends in the end,” Alonso concluded, maybe speaking as much about adversity as everything.