Real Madrid’s unbeaten start to the season was shattered by a 5-2 defeat against city rivals Atletico Madrid. Head coach Xabi Alonso admitted the loss “hurts,” identifying a critical lack of intensity and competitiveness as the main reason.
Real Madrid’s unbeaten start to the season came to a crashing halt on Saturday night as they were convincingly beaten 5-2 by Atletico Madrid at the RiyadhAir Metropolitano. Despite briefly taking the lead in the first half, Los Blancos were overwhelmed as their city rivals responded with four unanswered goals in a derby to forget.
Alonso admits defeat “hurts”
Head coach Xabi Alonso didn’t sugar-coat his assessment after the match, openly admitting how painful the result was for both the team and the fans.
“It was a bad game,” he said. “We didn’t start well, and we didn’t play well – not as a collective and not in terms of quality with or without the ball. We are in a construction phase. This is our first defeat, and the season continues, but there are no excuses. It was a derby, and the result was deserved. We weren’t where we needed to be, we missed a step… Defeat hurts us, it hurts the fans. But we need to take lessons from it for the future.”
Lack of intensity the main concern
Despite conceding five goals, Alonso insisted the defensive record was not the most worrying aspect of the night. Instead, he pointed to his side’s lack of fight and competitiveness in a battle that demanded much more.
“The big problem was our intensity, our inability to adjust and counteract better, to get out of pressure,” he explained. “We think we understand what went wrong, but we still need to evaluate it more. Today the team didn’t compete at the level required for matches like this, against rivals like this. That’s the reality – and that’s what we have to fix.”
No comparisons, just corrections
Given the heavy scoreline, comparisons were immediately drawn with Real Madrid’s infamous 5-0 thrashing by Barcelona in 2010, a match Alonso himself played in. However, the coach refused to indulge in the parallels.
“I don’t want to compare,” he said. “This is our first defeat of the season, and yes, it’s painful – for us, and especially for the supporters. We feel responsible. But the focus now must be on what needs correcting and how we move forward. The season is just beginning in La Liga and in other competitions, and clearly, this is not the level we want to be at.”
For Alonso and Real Madrid, the derby defeat was as much a wake-up call as it was a setback.