No attacker in Real Madrid’s history had endured scoreless for as long as Rodrygo, but at last he was unleashed and he had a declaration to deliver, executed for public consumption. The Brazilian, who had been goalless in nine months and was beginning only his fifth match this term, beat shot-stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma to secure the advantage against Pep Guardiola's side. Then he spun and sprinted towards the sideline to embrace Xabi Alonso, the manager under pressure for whom this could signal an more significant relief.
“This is a challenging time for him, like it is for us,” Rodrygo stated. “Things aren’t coming off and I sought to prove the public that we are as one with the coach.”
By the time Rodrygo addressed the media, the advantage had been taken from them, a defeat following. City had reversed the score, taking 2-1 ahead with “very little”, Alonso observed. That can transpire when you’re in a “sensitive” situation, he added, but at least Madrid had fought back. On this occasion, they could not pull off a comeback. Endrick, introduced off the bench having played 11 minutes all season, hit the crossbar in the dying moments.
“It wasn’t enough,” Rodrygo said. The dilemma was whether it would be enough for Alonso to retain his job. “We didn't view it as [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 have shown that we’re supporting the manager: we have given a good account, provided 100%,” Courtois added. And so the axe was withheld, consequences suspended, with games against Alavés and Sevilla on the horizon.
Madrid had been overcome at home for the second match in four days, extending their recent run to a mere pair of successes in eight, but this seemed a more respectable. This was the Premier League champions, as opposed to a domestic opponent. Streamlined, they had actually run, the simplest and most harsh accusation not levelled at them this time. With a host of first-teamers out injured, they had lost only to a messy goal and a converted penalty, nearly securing something at the end. There were “many of very good things” about this display, the boss argued, and there could be “no blame” of his players, not this time.
That was not entirely the case. There were spells in the second half, as irritation grew, when the Santiago Bernabéu had jeered. At full time, a portion of supporters had done so again, although there was in addition sporadic clapping. But primarily, there was a muted procession to the doors. “That’s normal, we accept it,” Rodrygo commented. Alonso remarked: “There's nothing that is unprecedented before. And there were moments when they applauded too.”
“I have the confidence of the players,” Alonso said. And if he stood by them, they supported him too, at least in front of the media. There has been a rapprochement, conversations: the coach had listened to them, arguably more than they had adapted to him, finding somewhere not quite in the compromise.
Whether durable a solution that is continues to be an unresolved issue. One seemingly minor incident in the post-match press conference seemed significant. Asked about Pep Guardiola’s advice to stick to his principles, Alonso had let that notion to linger, responding: “I have a good connection with Pep, we understand each other well and he is aware of what he is implying.”
Crucially though, he could be pleased that there was a fight, a pushback. Madrid’s players had not let Alonso fall during the game and after it they defended him. This support may have been performative, done out of duty or mutual survival, but in this context, it was significant. The intensity with which they played had been too – even if there is a temptation of the most elementary of standards somehow being framed as a form of positive.
The previous day, Aurélien Tchouaméni had insisted the coach had a strategy, that their failings were not his doing. “In my view my colleague Aurélien nailed it in the press conference,” Raúl Asencio said post-match. “The key is [for] the players to improve the attitude. The attitude is the linchpin and today we have observed a change.”
Jude Bellingham, questioned if they were supporting the coach, also answered with a figure: “100%.”
“We persist in attempting to figure it out in the changing room,” he continued. “We understand that the [outside] chatter will not be beneficial so it is about trying to resolve it in there.”
“Personally, I feel the coach has been superb. I myself have a excellent relationship with him,” Bellingham stated. “Following the spell of games where we tied a few, we had some honest conversations among ourselves.”
“Every situation ends in the end,” Alonso philosophized, possibly speaking as much about adversity as everything.
