Xabi Alonso Treading a Fine Line at Madrid Even With Dressing Room Support.

No offensive player in the club's annals had endured without a goal for as such a duration as Rodrygo, but at last he was unleashed and he had a message to deliver, performed for public consumption. The Brazilian, who had been goalless in an extended drought and was commencing only his fifth match this season, beat goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to give them the advantage against the English champions. Then he spun and charged towards the bench to greet Xabi Alonso, the boss under pressure for whom this could prove an even greater liberation.

“It’s a tough period for him, like it is for us,” Rodrygo commented. “Things aren’t coming off and I wanted to prove everyone that we are together with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo made his comments, the advantage had been surrendered, another loss following. City had come back, going 2-1 ahead with “very little”, Alonso noted. That can occur when you’re in a “sensitive” state, he continued, but at least Madrid had fought back. On this occasion, they could not complete a turnaround. Endrick, on as a substitute having played very little all season, rattled the crossbar in the dying moments.

A Suspended Sentence

“The effort fell short,” Rodrygo admitted. The dilemma was whether it would be enough for Alonso to hold onto his job. “That wasn't our perception [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 felt privately. “We demonstrated that we’re supporting the coach: we have given a good account, offered 100%,” Courtois affirmed. And so the axe was postponed, sentencing suspended, with games against Alavés and Sevilla imminent.

A Distinct Kind of Setback

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 domestic opponent. Stripped down, they had shown fight, the simplest and most damning accusation not levelled at them in this instance. With eight men out injured, they had lost only to a scrambled finish and a converted penalty, coming close to securing something at the end. There were “numerous of very good things” about this performance, the boss stated, and there could be “no blame” of his players, on this occasion.

The Bernabéu's Mixed Response

That was not always the complete picture. There were spells in the latter period, as discontent grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had whistled. At full time, a portion of supporters had done so again, although there was in addition some applause. But mostly, there was a muted stream to the doors. “It's to be expected, we understand it,” Rodrygo said. Alonso remarked: “It’s nothing that doesn't occur before. And there were instances when they cheered too.”

Squad Backing Remains Evident

“I have the support of the players,” Alonso affirmed. And if he backed them, they stood by him too, at least for the media. There has been a unification, conversations: the coach had considered them, perhaps more than they had accommodated him, meeting somewhere not exactly in the center.

How lasting a remedy that is continues to be an unresolved issue. One small incident in the post-match press conference appeared significant. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s advice to do things his way, Alonso had let that notion to remain unanswered, responding: “I share a good connection with Pep, we know each other well and he knows what he is talking about.”

A Foundation of Resistance

Crucially though, he could be pleased that there was a spirit, a pushback. Madrid’s players had not let Alonso fall during the game and after it they defended him. Some of this may have been for show, done out of obligation or self-preservation, but in this climate, it was meaningful. The effort with which they played had been as well – even if there is a temptation of the most fundamental of standards somehow being promoted as a kind of positive.

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

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

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

“Personally, I feel the gaffer has been excellent. I personally have a excellent connection with him,” Bellingham added. “Following the sequence of games where we were held a few, we had some honest conversations behind the scenes.”

“All things passes in the end,” Alonso philosophized, perhaps referring as much about poor form as his own predicament.