Xabi Alonso spoke to the media after Real Madrid\u2019s 1-0 win over Juventus on Wednesday night. He was asked about Arda G\u00fcler\u2019s qualities, to which he said: \u201cArda is in the process of improving everything. He\u2019s 20 years old and has already played a few games for Madrid. With his age and quality, we have to support him. He needs to improve his decision-making and pressing, but he has a lot of good qualities. He gives great meaning to the game. When he\u2019s involved, we have a better team dynamic. Where? It depends on what\u2019s around him or what the game demands. I\u2019m very happy with his progress, but we want more. He really enjoys playing football. He wants to find the pass, take the free kick… Wirtz was like that at Leverkusen. He\u2019s young, but he\u2019s a great player. He\u2019s in the process, but at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew it was going to be competitive, but there were different moments. We improved, and it was hard for us to get into the game. We adjusted and came out very well. After the goal, our best moments came. We have a great goalkeeper, he has the quality we\u2019ve used on important Champions League nights. He comes through in key moments. Three more points, we\u2019re happy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were different phases. We improved, we didn\u2019t attack well, but we adjusted. We had more of the ball and increased the pace. It allowed us to create chances. I told them it was a game about working hard, looking for chances, and not losing our balance. And that\u2019s how it turned out. Vini made a great play. We couldn\u2019t kill them off, but we\u2019re leaving with three points. Courtois was also very good. Let\u2019s keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alonso on \u2018defending the result\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to defend the result; Juventus put more pressure on us. They pushed us. This is the Champions League, there\u2019s no easy victory. You have to enjoy defending a victory. It\u2019s normal.\u201c<\/p>\n
Alonso on Jude Bellingham<\/p>\n
\u201cHe played a very complete game. There was no space. Finding him between the lines was difficult. I liked him in Getafe and I liked him today. And he scored. I\u2019m very happy for him; he enjoyed himself and was competitive. He\u2019s a midfielder, with the quality to build and the determination to finish. He\u2019s the kind of player who covers a lot of ground. He has many different qualities. That\u2019s why he\u2019s so complete, one of the most complete in the world.
\u201cI ask him to feel involved in the game. To be as effective as possible. We must approach him in advantageous positions. The numbers are a consequence of many things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re doing well, let\u2019s see this week. We\u2019ve been on the up. We\u2019ve done some good things, some not so good. It\u2019s the Cl\u00e1sico, it means a lot. For the game, for qualification.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t good at the start. We knew why we were disorganized. We detected a mistake in Vlahovic\u2019s case, and it will be corrected.<\/p>\n
\u201dThere are many points. We\u2019re improving week after week. They caught us out on some transitions because we wanted to be aggressive in the opponent\u2019s half. That play… As a spectator, it was a spectacle. I was praying he wouldn\u2019t get sent off, and then there was Thibaut.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know the significance of Sunday\u2019s match. We\u2019re not making big decisions. We know how important it is. We\u2019re playing against Bar\u00e7a, and it has a significant impact on the standings. We\u2019re going to prepare well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to compare, but for everyone, having Militao back at this level is tremendous news. We\u2019re seeing it. We see it every game. That he\u2019s recovered those sensations makes us very happy; he feels more powerful and more determined. I think he\u2019ll only get better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Xabi Alonso spoke to the media after Real Madrid\u2019s 1-0 win over Juventus on Wednesday night. He was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[134126,403,99],"class_list":["post-244926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-real-madrid-cf-europe","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}