Forget Man City, the true test of Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid tenure will come at Alavés on Sunday

For Xabi Alonso, the real test lies ahead. 

Suggestions that Alonso’s tenure as Real Madrid manager was dependent on the outcome of Wednesday night’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester City appear, for now at least, to have been wide of the mark. 

That doubtless has much to do with the fact that the club’s second successive defeat at the Bernabéu, while far from ideal, was a far cry from Sunday’s abject performance against Celta Vigo. There was intensity. There was endeavour. There was a palpable determination on the part of the players to put things right, to silence whispers that Alonso has lost the dressing room, to press, to track back, to implement the manager’s game plan.

And though it all came to nought, the impression was that the jeers that greeted the final whistle were directed not at Alonso, but at the wider situation in which the 15-time European champions find themselves. Madrid have won just two of their past eight games, a scenario that seemed unthinkable only a few weeks ago, when they held a five-point lead at the top of La Liga. Now they are four points behind Barcelona and can feel the breath of the pursuing pack, led by city rivals Atlético Madrid and Liverpool, in the Champions League, where they are clinging to a place in the top eight on goal difference. Small wonder if fans are frustrated.

Alavés will test Real Madrid’s character in a way Manchester City didn’t

But as Alonso knows better than anyone, the true measure of Madrid’s mettle will come on Sunday, when his team of superstars travels to Alavés for a league fixture they may have to  win if Villarreal – who lie a point behind them with a game in hand, and travel to Levante earlier the same evening – are to be denied second place. Raising your level to meet a major Champions League rival like City is one thing; finding the same spirit in the more workaday environment of domestic combat, quite another. Yet Alonso’s job may depend on it.

“It’s not up to me,” said Alonso when asked about what lay ahead following the City defeat. “I’m looking forward to the next game.

“When you’re coach of Real Madrid you need to be ready, you need to be accountable, self-critical, but you need to have composure. Despite the result, I have seen positive things and others that have not worked so well, but we’re there.

Xabi Alonso: ‘The players gave it everything they had’

“The players gave it everything they had, and I have nothing to criticise. I really value their attitude. We have to keep going. 

“At the moment, the results aren’t as good as we’d like. We’re critical, we demand a lot of ourselves, and we understand the fans. We have to keep working hard. We believe we’ll get through this because everything passes.”

Alonso will be hoping that a lengthy injury list passes quickest of all. Dani Carvajal, Éder Militão, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ferland Mendy, David Alaba, Eduardo Camavinga and Dean Huijsen were all absent on Wednesday night, while top scorer Kylian Mbappé was on the bench but not fit enough to play. 

Brazil international Rodrygo performed admirably in Mbappé’s absence, firing in his first goal since March just before the half hour, while his compatriot Endrick, another gifted attacker who has struggled for minutes under Alonso, clipped the bar with a late header. For all the problems Alonso may have, a lack of attacking talent is not among them. 

Xabi Alonso: ‘I feel the support of the players’

Nor, it would seem, is a lack of appreciation within the dressing room. Rodrygo reserved a warm embrace for his manager after scoring the opener, and with Pep Guardiola’s colourful exhortation that Alonso should go about things his own way – the City boss advised his former player to “que mee con la suya”, or pee with his own penis, in the build-up to the game – the Madrid manager could have some big decisions to make before Sunday.

“I liked his performance,” Alonso said of Rodrygo, who vied with Vinícius Júnior for a starting place in the early weeks of the season, much to the latter’s disdain. “The goal was a consequence of other things he did well. It’s one of today’s good pieces of news to see him with that individual quality, that flair, and he also scored, which was important for him. We know about his quality. 

“I feel the support of the players. We are together every day, we prepare for matches and I like the closeness we have. The hug and the goal were positive. It made a difference. I’m very pleased for him. He will improve and he is on the right track.”

By the latter stages of Sunday evening, Alonso, who has preached unity from day one, will hope to be alongside him on that track.