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NO REPRIEVE FOR THE XAB

Going into Wednesday night's encounter with Manchester City, the position of the Real Madrid manager in the dugout appeared as up in the air as a tortilla being flipped. Just 14 games into his reign, the solitary unsightly blot on the 44-year-old’s record was an unacceptable heavy defeat against Atlético. However, from the beginning of last month, Los Blancos have only won three victories in nine outings, including their most unpalatable performances coming in the form of stalemates against perceived Spanish league cannon fodder, and ending with a embarrassing home defeat at the hands of Celta Vigo.

In the Bigger Cup, the Spanish giants still appear likely to secure a crucial top eight spot despite their loss to Pep Guardiola's side, a loss which was greeted by loud boos from the crowd from hard-to-please supporters that had witnessed injury-hit team put in a decent shift.

"When you don’t win in your own stadium that can happen," admitted Alonso regarding the response from the notoriously demanding crowd. "We kept going, we tried until the end and despite all the problems we have [with injuries] everyone gave everything. For this match there is nothing to criticise. The results over the past two months has been poor, not up to our standards. We’re self-critical, but have to continue working and have faith that things will improve."

Despite rumours the club's overpaid prima donnas have little or no truck with Alonso's demands for making them “do” tactics, endure long-winded analysis sessions and attend mandatory evening seminars on the economic history of the Galician fishing industry, there was no shortage of public backing for the beleaguered manager.

Upon scoring their opener, the Brazilian forward high-fived his manager by the sideline, with both Thibaut Courtois and Jude Bellingham offering supportive post-game comments to the media. "The manager’s been great," tooted the England star, in what some might call excessive flattery he could try repeating next time he’s on England duty. "I’ve personally have a fantastic rapport with him, a lot of the guys do too. After the first run of games when we had some draws, we had some productive talks within the group. In the last couple of games, we have simply let ourselves down again. Yet no one is giving up, nobody is grumbling or whining, believing our campaign is finished."

While it would be unheard of for the UK press to distort Bellingham's words to fit a narrative, it could be argued that by saying that “a lot” of his teammates get on with Alonso, the midfielder was subtly hinting that a significant number do not. Vinícius Júnior has evidently had disagreements with the manager and the winger is widely reported to have told the club's hierarchy he will not ink a new deal as long as Alonso is the coach. One wonders what the Brazilian thought about the next day's Spanish press, which gave Alonso a free pass for this defeat and instead placed responsibility firmly on Viní’s wasteful feet.

STATEMENT OF THE DAY

"Freedom of expression and privacy rights are universal human rights. No football fan surrenders those rights just because they cross a border. This policy creates an intimidating environment of monitoring which goes against the inclusive ethos the tournament is meant to embody and it must be withdrawn at once" – Ronan Evain, the head of Football Supporters Europe, criticizes the Trump regime’s plan that would require travelers heading to the United States for the World Cup to disclose information about their social media profiles.