Manager Alonso Walking a Thin Tightrope at the Bernabéu Even With Player Support.

No attacker in the club's record books had endured failing to find the net for as such a duration as Rodrygo, but eventually he was released and he had a message to broadcast, performed for the world to see. The Brazilian, who had been goalless in an extended drought and was starting only his fifth game this season, beat goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to give them the opening goal against Pep Guardiola's side. Then he turned and ran towards the touchline to hug Xabi Alonso, the manager on the edge for whom this could signal an even greater relief.

“It’s a difficult period for him, like it is for us,” Rodrygo said. “Results aren't working out and I wanted to prove everyone that we are as one with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo spoke, the lead had been taken from them, a setback ensuing. City had come back, going 2-1 ahead with “minimal”, Alonso noted. That can occur when you’re in a “delicate” state, he continued, but at least Madrid had reacted. On this occasion, they could not complete a comeback. Endrick, introduced off the bench having played 11 minutes all season, rattled the crossbar in the closing stages.

A Delayed Verdict

“It proved insufficient,” Rodrygo conceded. The dilemma was whether it would be enough for Alonso to hold onto his position. “We didn't view it as [this was a trial of the coach],” goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois insisted, but that was how it had been framed publicly, and how it was perceived internally. “We have shown that we’re with the manager: we have played well, provided 100%,” Courtois concluded. And so the axe was postponed, sentencing suspended, with matches against Alavés and Sevilla looming.

A Different Type of Setback

Madrid had been overcome at home for the second time in four days, perpetuating their recent run to just two victories in eight, but this felt a more respectable. This was the Premier League champions, rather than a La Liga opponent. Simplified, they had competed with intensity, the most obvious and most critical charge not directed at them in this instance. With eight men out injured, they had lost only to a messy goal and a penalty, coming close to earning something at the death. There were “many of very good things” about this showing, the head coach stated, and there could be “no criticism” of his players, not this time.

The Bernabéu's Mixed Reception

That was not always the case. There were periods in the latter period, as irritation grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had jeered. At the final whistle, some of supporters had done so again, although there was likewise some applause. But for the most part, there was a muted stream to the exits. “It's to be expected, we accept it,” Rodrygo noted. Alonso stated: “It’s nothing that is unprecedented before. And there were moments when they applauded too.”

Player Backing Remains Evident

“I have the confidence of the players,” Alonso affirmed. And if he supported them, they stood by him too, at least towards the media. There has been a rapprochement, talks: the coach had listened to them, perhaps more than they had accommodated him, reaching somewhere not quite in the compromise.

Whether durable a fix that is remains an matter of debate. One small moment in the after-game press conference appeared significant. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s suggestion to follow his own path, Alonso had let that implication to hang there, responding: “I share a good connection with Pep, we understand each other well and he is aware of what he is implying.”

A Basis of Resistance

Most importantly though, he could be satisfied that there was a resistance, a response. Madrid’s players had not let Alonso fall during the game and after it they publicly backed him. Some of this may have been performative, done out of obligation or self-interest, but in this tense environment, it was meaningful. The intensity with which they played had been equally so – even if there is a temptation of the most basic of requirements somehow being framed as a kind of positive.

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

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

“We’re still striving to work it out in the locker room,” he continued. “We know that the [outside] noise will not be productive so it is about trying to resolve it in there.”

“Personally, I feel the manager has been great. I individually have a great rapport with him,” Bellingham added. “After the sequence of games where we were held a few, we had some really great conversations behind the scenes.”

“Everything passes in the end,” Alonso concluded, possibly talking as much about adversity as his own predicament.