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

No attacker in the club's annals had experienced scoreless for as long as Rodrygo, but at last he was released and he had a declaration to deliver, acted out for the cameras. The Brazilian, who had been goalless in almost a year and was starting only his fifth match this term, beat shot-stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma to give them the advantage against Pep Guardiola's side. Then he turned and sprinted towards the sideline to embrace Xabi Alonso, the boss under pressure for whom this could represent an more significant relief.

“It’s a challenging time for him, like it is for us,” Rodrygo said. “Things aren’t coming off and I wanted to prove the public that we are united with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo addressed the media, the advantage had been surrendered, a setback ensuing. City had turned it around, going 2-1 ahead with “very little”, Alonso observed. That can transpire when you’re in a “sensitive” state, he elaborated, but at least Madrid had reacted. This time, they could not engineer a recovery. Endrick, introduced off the bench having played very little all season, struck the bar in the closing stages.

A Reserved Sentence

“The effort fell short,” Rodrygo said. The dilemma was whether it would be adequate for Alonso to hold onto his job. “We didn’t feel that [this was a trial of the coach],” veteran keeper Thibaut Courtois stated, but that was how it had been presented externally, and how it was understood behind closed doors. “We have shown that we’re with the manager: we have played well, provided 100%,” Courtois affirmed. And so the axe was withheld, any action delayed, with fixtures against Alavés and Sevilla looming.

A More Credible Type of Loss

Madrid had been beaten at home for the second match in four days, extending their poor form to two wins in eight, but this seemed a little different. This was Manchester City, as opposed to a La Liga opponent. Stripped down, they had actually run, the most obvious and most harsh accusation not directed at them in this instance. With eight men out injured, they had lost only to a opportunistic strike and a converted penalty, coming close to earning something at the end. There were “many of very good things” about this display, the boss stated, and there could be “no blame” of his players, not this time.

The Fans' Muted Reception

That was not entirely the full story. There were spells in the latter period, as frustration grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had voiced its disapproval. At the conclusion, a portion of supporters had done so again, although there was also some applause. But for the most part, there was a muted stream to the subway. “That’s normal, we understand it,” Rodrygo commented. Alonso stated: “It’s nothing that hasn’t happened before. And there were moments when they cheered too.”

Dressing Room Unity Stands Strong

“I have the backing of the players,” Alonso declared. And if he supported them, they stood by him too, at least for the public. There has been a coming together, conversations: the coach had accommodated them, arguably more than they had adapted to him, finding somewhere not exactly in the compromise.

How lasting a fix that is is still an unresolved issue. One little moment in the after-game press conference felt telling. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s counsel to stick to his principles, Alonso had let that notion to hang there, responding: “I have a good connection with Pep, we understand each other well and he knows what he is talking about.”

A Foundation of Reaction

Above all though, he could be content that there was a resistance, a pushback. Madrid’s players had not abandoned their coach during the game and after it they publicly backed him. This support may have been for show, done out of obligation or mutual survival, but in this climate, it was significant. The commitment with which they played had been equally so – even if there is a temptation of the most basic of standards somehow being framed as a form of success.

In the build-up, Aurélien Tchouaméni had stated firmly the coach had a strategy, that their shortcomings were not his doing. “I believe my colleague Aurélien nailed it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said post-match. “The only way is [for] the players to change the mindset. The attitude is the key thing and today we have observed a shift.”

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

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

“I think the gaffer has been superb. I individually have a great rapport with him,” Bellingham added. “Following the sequence of games where we drew a few, we had some very productive conversations among ourselves.”

“All things passes in the end,” Alonso philosophized, perhaps speaking as much about adversity as anything else.