Four days. That is the margin that the Xabi Alonso project at Real Madrid has gained after Wednesday's defeat against Manchester City. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the day when the league duel against Alavés at Mendizorroza will begin at nine in the evening. That will be the new 'final' for the Basque coach, closely watched by the club's management since the meeting held last Sunday in the early hours, just after falling 0-2 against Celta in Chamartín.
The 1-2 against Guardiola has not been condemning, according to internal sources consulted by this newspaper. The team regained some attitude and intensity, missed clear chances in the final stretch that could have equalized the score, and although Courtois saved the team at the beginning of the second half, Real Madrid showed a much better image than the one offered against the Vigo team. The internal messages summarize that a 'dismissal' defeat against City would have been one with less intensity from the players or a more lopsided score. None of that happened, so the coaching staff earned an extra life.
The result and the feelings have been taken within the organization as somewhat undramatic, even with some signs of improvement, but the historical record in recent weeks leaves Alonso on thin ice. A stumble in Mendizorroza and a Barcelona victory would distance the Whites by seven points from the top spot. A gap that would indeed condemn the tolosarra's project at the Castellana, which now only has two wins in the last eight matches.
"Time will tell if this is a turning point," declared the coach in the press room, aware that his position is at stake on Sunday. "There is still a long way to go, you paint it in a certain way but we must remain calm because this is a long process. What seems one way today can change in not so much time," he tried to reflect, although he did so with the same low profile and accommodating tone of recent weeks.
Alonso continued to praise his players, emphasized "self-criticism" to counterbalance questions about his future, and stressed the time needed for his project to work. "We know that things can change and anything can happen. Because everything changes, I am convinced. We have to look forward," he stated.
The curious thing of the night happened in the corridors of the Bernabéu once the match ended. Some details that could also shape the next days of the Madrid media spotlight. The players, who in recent months have privately expressed their complaints about Alonso's methods or management style, publicly defended him, just after the Bernabéu booed them at various moments in the second half.
Bellingham, Rodrygo, Asensio, and Courtois closed ranks around the coach, persisting with the same message: "We are 100% with Xabi." Until this Wednesday night, public messages of support for the coach from the dressing room had been scarce. Mbappé in Athens and Tchouaméni in the pre-match against City, two of his main allies within the sports city. Not much more.
After the high command meeting on Sunday in the early hours, led by Florentino Pérez and José Ángel Sánchez, there was a reflection beyond Alonso's position as Real Madrid's coach: the attitude of the players. The club's board is aware that they have supported some of their players in recent months, such as Vinicius in his controversy with Xabi when he did not punish him after his anger over being substituted in the Clásico. But in this crisis of results, the top echelons of the club have set new rules for the squad.
This constant rift situation had to stop, with or without Xabi. "Either you take a step forward or you will be the next ones singled out," was the message. And the dressing room understood it during the second half of the match against the English team when the audience, for the first time this season, booed the team. Specifically, the stands focused their anger on two players: Vinicius and Bellingham, idolized by the Bernabéu in the last two seasons.
Their mistakes in the opponent's area, forgiving an equalizer that would have been crucial for the qualification and for the project, infuriated the fans. Interestingly, both spoke before and after the match. The Brazilian did so before, saying that the match against City "could change everything," while the Englishman was one of the protagonists in the mixed zone and repeated several times, "I have a great relationship with Xabi." "The coach has been good. No one complains or regrets," he added.
That message from the club seems to have resonated in a dressing room that has been unsettled for a couple of months. A message that also serves to prepare the ground in case of a possible change of protagonist in the helm of the Madrid bench, with Arbeloa, Solari, and Zidane as the names that resonate the most in Valdebebas to replace the Basque.
The message, the rumors involving Xabi, and the team's booing have changed the tone of the dressing room, now focused on showing more intensity to quell internal and external fires. "Playing like this, we are going to win a lot," admits a source close to the squad. They will do so, however, amidst an epidemic of defensive absences, with the possible absence of Camavinga and doubts about Mbappé, who could not play against City due to discomfort in his left knee. If he does not make it to Vitoria, Xabi's project's new final will have even more complications.