“Decisive and important” – Xabi Alonso heaps praise on Real Madrid star following Levante victory | OneFootball

Real Madrid continued their perfect start to the 2025-26 season with victory over Levante on Tuesday evening – a result that has, for the moment, taken them five points clear at the top of La Liga.

It was a commanding performance from Los Blancos, whose head coach Xabi Alonso assessed things during his post-match press conference. As per Diario AS, he spoke on how he currently sees things with the first team.

“We are in the construction phase. We have been here for 51 days and there is still a long way to go. But we are building a solid foundation. Many in the team feel connected and important, but there are things to improve – also today.

“The road is good. because of the results and the way things are being done. It’s only the beginning and we want to continue competing well.”

Image via Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images

Alonso delighted at having versatile players in his squad

Alonso made a number of changes for the Levante match, with the most notable seeing Alvaro Carreras deployed as a centre-back. He believes that many of his players are versatile enough to do similar in the future.

“Having quality players makes it much easier. Having players who with little training understand the idea… Flexible players, who can play in different positions. And today we believed that some of them had to rest, especially Militao and Carvajal, who were coming off injuries and we didn’t want them to play three games in a row.”

Alonso was also asked to assess the performance of Vinicius Junior, who was given the MVP award by La Liga. He was also questioned about whether the Brazil international would start in this weekend’s Madrid derby.

“We just finished the game. We’re thinking about today and from tomorrow we’ll be thinking about the derby. It was a very complete match from everyone. Vini has been decisive and important.”