Manager Alonso Walking a Fine Line at the Bernabéu Despite Dressing Room Support.

No attacker in Los Blancos' annals had gone without a goal for as such a duration as Rodrygo, but finally he was unleashed and he had a message to broadcast, acted out for public consumption. The Brazilian, who had failed to score in nine months and was starting only his fifth appearance this term, beat goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to secure the opening goal against the English champions. Then he wheeled and ran towards the bench to embrace Xabi Alonso, the manager in the spotlight for whom this could represent an more significant relief.

“It’s a difficult moment for him, similar to how it is for us,” Rodrygo stated. “Performances aren't working out and I sought to prove everyone that we are together with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo addressed the media, the advantage had been taken from them, another loss ensuing. City had come back, going 2-1 ahead with “very little”, Alonso observed. That can transpire when you’re in a “sensitive” state, he added, but at least Madrid had reacted. Ultimately, they could not pull off a recovery. Endrick, introduced off the bench having played 11 minutes all season, struck the crossbar in the final seconds.

A Reserved Sentence

“The effort fell short,” Rodrygo admitted. The issue was whether it would be adequate for Alonso to keep his job. “We didn't view it as [this was a trial of the coach],” veteran keeper Thibaut Courtois stated, but that was how it had been portrayed in the media, and how it was understood behind closed doors. “We demonstrated that we’re behind the manager: we have given a good account, given 100%,” Courtois affirmed. And so judgment was postponed, sentencing delayed, with games against Alavés and Sevilla looming.

A Different Form of Loss

Madrid had been defeated at home for the second occasion in four days, continuing their poor form to a mere pair of successes in eight, but this felt a somewhat distinct. This was the Premier League champions, as opposed to a lesser opponent. Simplified, they had shown fight, the simplest and most harsh accusation not directed at them this time. With multiple players out injured, they had lost only to a scrambled finish and a penalty, coming close to securing something at the end. There were “many of very good things” about this showing, the boss argued, and there could be “no criticism” of his players, not this time.

The Stadium's Ambivalent Reaction

That was not always the complete picture. There were moments in the closing 45 minutes, as discontent grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had jeered. At the conclusion, some of supporters had done so again, although there was likewise pockets of appreciation. But mostly, there was a quiet procession to the subway. “We understand that, we accept it,” Rodrygo said. Alonso remarked: “There's nothing that hasn’t happened before. And there were moments when they clapped too.”

Squad Support Is Firm

“I have the support of the players,” Alonso said. And if he backed them, they supported him too, at least for the public. There has been a coming together, conversations: the coach had accommodated them, perhaps more than they had embraced him, reaching common ground not quite in the middle.

Whether durable a fix that is continues to be an unresolved issue. One small exchange in the post-match press conference appeared telling. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s suggestion to stick to his principles, Alonso had permitted that idea to remain unanswered, answering: “I share a good relationship with Pep, we know each other well and he is aware of what he is saying.”

A Basis of Resistance

Above all though, he could be pleased that there was a fight, a response. Madrid’s players had not given up during the game and after it they defended him. Part of it may have been for show, done out of duty or self-preservation, but in this context, it was significant. The effort with which they played had been too – even if there is a risk of the most elementary of expectations somehow being promoted as a kind of success.

Earlier, Aurélien Tchouaméni had argued the coach had a vision, that their mistakes were not his responsibility. “In my view my teammate Aurélien said it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said after full-time. “The sole solution is [for] the players to improve the attitude. The attitude is the key thing and today we have seen a shift.”

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

“We’re still trying to solve it in the locker room,” he continued. “It's clear that the [outside] chatter will not be helpful so it is about striving to fix it in there.”

“I think the coach has been great. I individually have a great connection with him,” Bellingham concluded. “After the sequence of games where we tied a few, we had some really great conversations behind the scenes.”

“All things passes in the end,” Alonso concluded, perhaps referring as much about a difficult spell as his own predicament.