Real Madrid players back Xabi amid whistles, club pressure - ESPN

Xabi Alonso said he understood whistles from the Bernabéu crowd after Real Madrid's 2-1 Champions League defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday, while insisting there was «nothing to criticize» in his team's performance.

With Kylian Mbappé injured, Rodrygo put Madrid ahead in the first half — ending a 32-game goal drought — before Nico O'Reilly leveled for City, and an Erling Haaland penalty put the visitors ahead.

Madrid and Alonso went into the game under pressure after a 2-0 home defeat to Celta Vigo on Sunday made it one win in five games in LaLiga, with ESPN reporting that club executives had met to discuss the coach's future.

«When you don't win at home [whistles] can happen,» Alonso said in his postmatch news conference. «We felt the energy from the crowd, when the team needed it, pushing them on. At the end of the game, if there were whistles we can understand it and accept it. The demands are so high.»

Madrid began the season well, winning 11 of their first 12 LaLiga games, before a Champions League loss at Liverpool last month sparked a slump that has seen the team draw with Rayo Vallecano, Elche and Girona before being beaten by Celta.

Alonso's management style and the performances he has secured from key players have been scrutinized, while Madrid have also faced an injury crisis that saw eight first-team players including Mbappé miss the City game.

«The team kept going, we tried until the end, and with all the difficulties we have with injuries, the players gave everything,» Alonso said Wednesday. «Today I have nothing to criticize.

»The results in November and December haven't been good, or what we wanted. We're self-critical, but we have to keep working and believing it will pass."

Midfielder Jude