Xabi Alonso dodges questions on his future: 'Still plenty to play for' | OneFootball

Under pressure after three consecutive draws in the Spanish Championship, the Real Madrid coach, Xabi Alonso, avoided commenting on Tuesday about the rumors regarding his future at the club, stating that there is still a long way to go.

“These are not questions for me. My focus is on tomorrow's game, on the preparation. There is a long way to go and everything is balanced. We have a lot to play for and things can change,” Alonso declared at a press conference on the eve of the match against Athletic Bilbao, in an advanced game of the 19th round of the Spanish league.

Regarding the doubts about his work leading the team, the merengue coach responded that he knows how to deal “with the demands and the criticisms” and that he is focused only on improving to be able to “compete for everything” at the end of the season.

Faced with the journalists' insistence, Alonso did not want to answer whether he risks being dismissed after the game against Athletic, revealing that he spoke with Real Madrid's president, Florentino Pérez.

“I spoke again (with the president) and the conversations are very positive, in good spirits, wanting to turn the results around,” he stated.

“We lost a bit of quality”

The coach also acknowledged that the team has declined in performance since the victories over Barcelona (2-1) at the end of October, and Valencia (4-0) at the beginning of November. “We lost a bit of quality and energy, we were all affected,” he explained.

Currently, Real Madrid has 33 points in the Spanish Championship, one behind the leader Barcelona.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.