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Alonso reacts to ‘total catastrophe’: Real Madrid boss pinpoints one reason for derby disaster
Robin Bairner
- 27 Sept 2025 19:30 BST
- 3 min read
News
Real Madrid head coach Xabi Alonso has reacted to Saturday’s 5-2 La Liga loss to Atletico Madrid – a match that has already been dubbed a ‘total catastrophe’ for the Bernabeu side.
Alonso’s side had won all seven matches they had played since the beginning of the season, including six in La Liga, but they saw their perfect start to the campaign shattered by Diego Simeone’s side.
Atleti led early through Robin Le Normand, but Los Blancos hit back through Kylian Mbappe and Arda Guler. Alexander Sorloth struck in first-half stoppage time to ensure parity at the break.
Current ETV
Kylian Mbappé
F (C)
Real Madrid
Kylian Mbappé
F (C)
Real Madrid
ETV Range
€137.1M - €167.5M
A dominant second-half display saw Julian Alvarez strike a double as well as Antoine Griezmann rattle the net, and it left Alonso shaken.
“It was a bad match. We didn't start well, we didn't play well either collectively or in terms of our quality of play with or without the ball,” he admitted.
“We're in a building phase. Today is our first defeat, and this continues. We have to draw conclusions from what happened, because they'll certainly help us in the future. But there are no excuses.
“We're hurt, as are the fans. It was a derby, and it's a deserved defeat. We weren't there. We lacked a certain amount of drive... the defeat hurts.”
What went wrong for Real Madrid?
Alonso pinpointed his side’s lack of intensity as the issue that worried him the most.
“We didn’t compete enough today. The team wasn’t at the level required for this type of game against this opponent. We’ll have to raise our level, and that’s what we’re going to do,” he said.
This is Alonso’s second major setback since taking charge of Los Blancos prior to the Club World Cup, in which his side was comprehensively defeated by PSG.
Madrid sports paper Marca described the loss as a ‘total catastrophe’ for Alonso’s side and puts additional pressure on the Champions League clash against Kairat away from home on Tuesday.
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