Xabi Alonso said he “likes to see Vinícius Júnior smiling” after the Real Madrid forward excelled in midweek, ahead of Saturday’s high-stakes Madrid Derby.
Vinícius hasn’t been a guaranteed starter under Alonso so far — being benched in two of Madrid’s seven games this season — but performed well and scored an outstanding goal in the team’s 4-1 win at Levante on Tuesday.
Real Madrid go into Saturday’s LaLiga game at the Metropolitano top of the table with six wins out of six, while rivals Atlético Madrid have struggled, needing a late comeback to beat Rayo Vallecano 3-2 on Wednesday, and sitting nine points behind Real Madrid.
“Vini is a fundamental player for us,” Alonso said in his pre-match news conference on Friday. “The other day [against Levante] he played a great game. I really liked a lot of things that he did. I like to see him smiling.”
Both of last season’s LaLiga derbies between the teams ended 1-1, while in the Champions League, a penalty shootout was needed for Real Madrid to prevail in the last 16.
Atlético made a substantial investment in the transfer market over the summer, signing eight players including Álex Baena, Johnny Cardoso and Thiago Almada, but have only won two of six LaLiga games so far.
“Atlético have changed their squad a lot, so I’ve focused more on their games from this season,” Alonso said, when asked if he’d analysed last season’s clashes under predecessor Carlo Ancelotti.
“Atlético evolve every year and this year they’ve made some intelligent changes, some very good players have arrived. It’s still very early, they will be able to aspire to everything this season … They’re a team that has a lot of energy, that demands a high rhythm.”
Alonso insisted Madrid “can’t get carried away” with their impressive start to the season, with the team facing its biggest test so far at the Metropolitano.
“We have to be consistent,” he said. “If we win a lot of games, we can get a lot of points, but we can’t relax, because then you can make a mistake… We have to see how flexible we can be, being unpredictable with the ball, not having just one form of attacking. But without the ball, we’ve taken steps forward.”
-Konaté on Madrid link: Mbappé calls every 2 hours
– Sources: Saliba agrees five-year Arsenal deal
– Transfer rumors: Liverpool look to Bayern’s Upamecano
Alonso said midfielder Jude Bellingham was in contention to start, after playing 19 minutes as a substitute against Levante.
“[Bellingham] can participate in the build-up, and finishing off chances, he has that capacity to cover a lot of ground,” Alonso said. “He’s starting now, he’s training, and playing more minutes… There are players who are more positional and more static, but Jude isn’t one of them.”