Manager Alonso Navigating a Thin Tightrope at the Bernabéu Despite Dressing Room Backing.

No forward in the club's annals had experienced failing to find the net for as such a duration as Rodrygo, but eventually he was released and he had a message to deliver, performed for the world to see. The Brazilian, who had not scored in nine months and was starting only his fifth appearance this season, beat shot-stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma to give them the advantage against the English champions. Then he wheeled and sprinted towards the bench to greet Xabi Alonso, the boss under pressure for whom this could signal an profound release.

“This is a tough moment for him, just as it is for us,” Rodrygo stated. “Results are not going our way and I sought to show people that we are as one with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo addressed the media, the advantage had been surrendered, a setback following. City had come back, going 2-1 ahead with “very little”, Alonso remarked. That can happen when you’re in a “fragile” situation, he continued, but at least Madrid had responded. On this occasion, they could not complete a recovery. Endrick, on as a substitute having played a handful of minutes all season, struck the bar in the closing stages.

A Reserved Verdict

“It wasn’t enough,” Rodrygo said. The question was whether it would be sufficient for Alonso to hold onto his job. “We didn't view it as [this was a trial of the coach],” goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois insisted, but that was how it had been presented externally, and how it was felt privately. “We demonstrated that we’re supporting the coach: we have given a good account, provided 100%,” Courtois concluded. And so the axe was withheld, any action suspended, with matches against Alavés and Sevilla imminent.

A Different Kind of Loss

Madrid had been defeated at home for the second occasion in four days, continuing their recent run to a mere pair of successes in eight, but this was a somewhat distinct. This was Manchester City, not a lesser opponent. Stripped down, they had competed with intensity, the easiest and most damning criticism not levelled at them in this instance. With a host of first-teamers out injured, they had lost only to a opportunistic strike and a converted penalty, coming close to salvaging something at the final whistle. There were “a lot of very good things” about this showing, the boss argued, and there could be “no criticism” of his players, tonight.

The Fans' Ambivalent Response

That was not entirely the case. There were spells in the latter period, as frustration grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had voiced its disapproval. At the conclusion, some of supporters had repeated that, although there was in addition pockets of appreciation. But primarily, there was a subdued stream to the doors. “That’s normal, we understand it,” Rodrygo noted. Alonso remarked: “This is nothing that is unprecedented before. And there were moments when they applauded too.”

Player Support Is Firm

“I feel the support of the players,” Alonso said. And if he stood by them, they backed him too, at least in front of the media. There has been a rapprochement, conversations: the coach had considered them, perhaps more than they had adapted to him, reaching a point not quite in the middle.

How lasting a remedy that is continues to be an unresolved issue. One little incident in the after-game press conference appeared significant. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s counsel to do things his way, Alonso had let that idea to linger, replying: “I share a good rapport with Pep, we know each other well and he knows what he is talking about.”

A Starting Point of Fight

Above all though, he could be pleased that there was a resistance, a pushback. Madrid’s players had not given up during the game and after it they publicly backed him. Some of this may have been theatrical, done out of obligation or self-preservation, but in this tense environment, it was important. The intensity with which they played had been equally so – even if there is a danger of the most elementary of standards somehow being promoted as a kind of achievement.

In the build-up, Aurélien Tchouaméni had insisted the coach had a plan, that their mistakes were not his fault. “In my view my colleague Aurélien nailed it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said post-match. “The key is [for] the players to alter the approach. The attitude is the linchpin and today we have seen a change.”

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

“We are continuing trying to work it out in the dressing room,” he continued. “We understand that the [outside] speculation will not be beneficial so it is about trying to resolve it in there.”

“In my opinion the coach has been great. I individually have a strong relationship with him,” Bellingham added. “Following the sequence of games where we tied a few, we had some honest conversations internally.”

“Every situation passes in the end,” Alonso philosophized, perhaps speaking as much about poor form as everything.