Real Madrid head coach Xabi Alonso has said that his side deserved their 5-2 defeat at the hands of rivals Atletico Madrid in LaLiga on Saturday. Real Madrid faced their first defeat of the season at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano, with Atleti finishing their seven-match unbeaten streak.
After the game, Alonso spoke with the media on Saturday, saying that everything went wrong with the match right from the start. He admitted that his team did not do well enough, putting this down to their being in a rebuild, and promised to learn from what had transpired.
“It was a bad match. We didn’t start well, we didn’t play well collectively, nor in terms of the quality of our play with and without the ball. We are in a rebuilding phase, today is our first defeat and this will continue. We have to learn from what happened, because it will surely serve us well in the future. But there are no excuses. We’re hurt, as are the fans. It was a derby and it was a deserved defeat. We weren’t… in the game, we lacked a gear… the defeat hurts.
Well, yes, but it’s still a positive for the future. But yes, we didn’t start well. In the duels, in the balls into space… we were too defeatist. Then, with the ball, we couldn’t find solutions either. The game wasn’t flowing and well… that’s it, it was a bad game overall. A deserved defeat.”
Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid have had opposite starts to the 2025-26 season, with Diego Simeone's men often left struggling to find the killer blow in matches. They had won just two of their first six league matches, needing inspiration from Julian Alvarez to win their second on matchday six. On the other hand, Real Madrid looked unstoppable with six wins from six in the league and another in the UEFA Champions League.
Alvarez was crucial in the clash against Real Madrid, with the Argentine scoring two of their goals. Xabi Alonso's side will now have to find their ways once again, starting with a trip to Kazakhstan to face Kairat Almaty in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday.