Xabi Alonso Navigating a Thin Path at the Bernabéu Even With Dressing Room Endorsement.

No offensive player in Los Blancos' annals had gone without a goal for as extended a period as Rodrygo, but eventually he was unleashed and he had a statement to send, performed for the world to see. The Brazilian, who had been goalless in nine months and was starting only his fifth match this season, beat goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to hand his team the lead against the English champions. Then he wheeled and sprinted towards the sideline to greet Xabi Alonso, the manager in the spotlight for whom this could signal an more significant release.

“This is a challenging moment for him, like it is for us,” Rodrygo said. “Things aren't working out and I aimed to show people that we are together with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo addressed the media, the advantage had been surrendered, a defeat taking its place. City had come back, taking 2-1 ahead with “very little”, Alonso noted. That can occur when you’re in a “sensitive” situation, he elaborated, but at least Madrid had fought back. On this occasion, they could not pull off a turnaround. Endrick, introduced off the bench having played 11 minutes all season, hit the crossbar in the final seconds.

A Delayed Verdict

“It wasn’t enough,” Rodrygo said. The dilemma was whether it would be sufficient for Alonso to retain his role. “We didn’t feel that [this was a trial of the coach],” veteran keeper Thibaut Courtois insisted, but that was how it had been framed publicly, and how it was understood behind closed doors. “We demonstrated that we’re behind the coach: we have given a good account, provided 100%,” Courtois added. And so judgment was withheld, any action delayed, with fixtures against Alavés and Sevilla imminent.

A More Credible Form of Setback

Madrid had been overcome at home for the second time in four days, continuing their recent run to a mere pair of successes in eight, but this was a more respectable. This was the Premier League champions, as opposed to a domestic opponent. Streamlined, they had competed with intensity, the simplest and most harsh accusation not levelled at them in this instance. With a host of first-teamers out injured, they had lost only to a scrambled finish and a penalty, almost salvaging something at the death. There were “a lot of very good things” about this showing, the boss said, and there could be “no blame” of his players, tonight.

The Stadium's Mixed Reaction

That was not always the full story. There were moments in the latter period, as frustration grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had jeered. At full time, a portion of supporters had repeated that, although there was in addition pockets of appreciation. But mostly, there was a subdued flow to the exits. “We understand that, we understand it,” Rodrygo commented. Alonso stated: “This is nothing that hasn’t happened before. And there were times when they applauded too.”

Dressing Room Support Stands Firm

“I have the support of the players,” Alonso said. And if he supported them, they supported him too, at least towards the public. There has been a coming together, conversations: the coach had listened to them, maybe more than they had embraced him, meeting a point not precisely in the center.

How lasting a fix that is continues to be an matter of debate. One seemingly minor incident in the after-game press conference appeared telling. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s advice to follow his own path, Alonso had permitted that notion to hang there, answering: “I share a good rapport with Pep, we understand each other well and he knows what he is talking about.”

A Basis of Fight

Above all though, he could be satisfied 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 self-interest, but in this climate, it was meaningful. The effort with which they played had been as well – even if there is a risk of the most elementary of requirements somehow being framed as a kind of positive.

The previous day, Aurélien Tchouaméni had stated firmly the coach had a plan, that their failings were not his doing. “I think my teammate Aurélien nailed it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said post-match. “The sole solution is [for] the players to change the approach. The attitude is the key thing and today we have seen a shift.”

Jude Bellingham, questioned if they were supporting the coach, also responded with a figure: “100%.”

“We’re still trying to figure it out in the locker room,” he continued. “We understand that the [outside] speculation will not be beneficial so it is about trying to sort it out in there.”

“In my opinion the manager has been excellent. I myself have a strong connection with him,” Bellingham concluded. “After the spell of games where we drew a few, we had some honest conversations internally.”

“Everything ends in the end,” Alonso philosophized, possibly referring as much about poor form as everything.