Alonso Walking a Precarious Line at the Bernabéu Amidst Squad Endorsement.

No attacker in Real Madrid’s record books had gone scoreless for as such a duration as Rodrygo, but finally he was released and he had a statement to deliver, executed for the world to see. The Brazilian, who had not scored in an extended drought and was commencing only his fifth game this term, beat shot-stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma to hand his team the lead against the English champions. Then he wheeled and charged towards the bench to hug Xabi Alonso, the boss under pressure for whom this could prove an even greater liberation.

“It’s a tough period for him, similar to how it is for us,” Rodrygo commented. “Results aren’t coming off and I sought to prove people that we are united with the coach.”

By the time Rodrygo spoke, the lead had been lost, another loss ensuing. City had turned it around, taking 2-1 ahead with “very little”, Alonso noted. That can occur when you’re in a “sensitive” situation, he continued, but at least Madrid had fought back. Ultimately, they could not engineer a recovery. Endrick, introduced off the bench having played a handful of minutes all season, struck the bar in the final seconds.

A Reserved Verdict

“It wasn’t enough,” Rodrygo said. The dilemma was whether it would be adequate for Alonso to retain his position. “We didn't view it as [this was a trial of the coach],” veteran keeper Thibaut Courtois remarked, but that was how it had been presented externally, and how it was understood behind closed doors. “Our performance proved that we’re with the coach: we have performed creditably, given 100%,” Courtois added. And so judgment was reserved, sentencing pending, with games against Alavés and Sevilla looming.

A Different Type of Loss

Madrid had been overcome at home for the second time in four days, perpetuating their recent run to two wins in eight, but this seemed a little different. This was the Premier League champions, as opposed to a domestic opponent. Streamlined, they had competed with intensity, the simplest and most harsh charge not directed at them this time. With eight men out injured, they had lost only to a scrambled finish and a penalty, nearly securing something at the end. There were “a lot of very good things” about this showing, the boss stated, and there could be “no reproach” of his players, on this occasion.

The Stadium's Mixed Reaction

That was not always the full story. There were spells in the second half, 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 sporadic clapping. But for the most part, there was a subdued flow to the subway. “That’s normal, we comprehend it,” Rodrygo said. Alonso added: “There's nothing that doesn't occur before. And there were times when they clapped too.”

Dressing Room Backing Is Firm

“I have the confidence of the players,” Alonso affirmed. And if he supported them, they backed him too, at least for the media. There has been a coming together, talks: the coach had listened to them, arguably more than they had accommodated him, reaching somewhere not exactly in the center.

Whether durable a solution that is continues to be an open question. One seemingly minor incident in the post-match press conference appeared significant. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s counsel to follow his own path, Alonso had let that implication to remain unanswered, replying: “I share a good rapport with Pep, we understand each other well and he knows what he is saying.”

A Foundation of Fight

Above all though, he could be content that there was a fight, a response. Madrid’s players had not given up during the game and after it they stood up for him. Part of it may have been performative, done out of obligation or self-preservation, but in this tense environment, it was important. The commitment with which they played had been equally so – even if there is a risk of the most fundamental of requirements 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 responsibility. “In my view my teammate Aurélien nailed it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said after full-time. “The key is [for] the players to improve the attitude. The attitude is the crucial element and today we have witnessed a change.”

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

“We persist in attempting to figure it out in the dressing room,” he said. “It's clear that the [outside] speculation will not be productive so it is about striving to sort it out in there.”

“I think the manager has been superb. I personally have a strong rapport with him,” Bellingham concluded. “After the run of games where we were held a few, we had some honest conversations among ourselves.”

“Every situation concludes in the end,” Alonso concluded, maybe referring as much about poor form as anything else.