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Xabi Alonso's immediate warning to Liverpool as Real Madrid boss sends clear message
Nov 02 2025 18:17 · By Mark Wakefield · 56 Reads
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Xabi Alonso wasted little time in turning his attention to Liverpool following Real Madrid's victory over Valencia. The Reds take on the La Liga giants on Tuesday night in their fourth league phase Champions League fixture.
Liverpool have six points from their opening three matches in this season's competition, after victories against Atletico Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt. Arne Slot's side had lost four consecutive Premier League matches before beating Aston Villa 2-0 at Anfield on Saturday night.
Madrid, on the other hand, claimed a 4-0 victory over Valencia in La Liga on Saturday night, and no sooner had the full-time whistle gone at the Santiago Bernabeu, Alonso's focus turned to Liverpool. The game will also be the second time that Alonso has returned to Anfield as a manager, after he oversaw Bayer Leverkusen's 4-0 defeat against Liverpool in the Champions League last season.
“Things turned out well. In the second half, we were able to manage the game well because we knew we had a match on Tuesday," Alonso told reporters on Saturday night.
"We had to be smart because some players had played a lot of minutes, and a lot of things went well. We don't want to relax, and we want to approach every game with the necessary mental preparation.
"Today we did that. Now it's time for Tuesday in the Champions League and Sunday in Vallecas. Starting tomorrow, it's Liverpool and Liverpool.”
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Liverpool head coach Arne Slot was delighted to see the club's losing streak come to an end with an impressive victory against Villa. "Happy with the result, with the performance and what I saw today, not only from the players but also the support we got from the fans, was what we needed today," said Slot on Saturday night.
"Maybe we were a bit more on the lucky side than we've been in the last few weeks, where in my opinion we were also unlucky. So, the mistake of their goalkeeper and the deflection led to two of our goals.
"These are the margins we are talking about. I think in other games we've created more from open play than we did today. But in football it's about results, not about the chances you create from open play."
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