Xabi Alonso: ‘Real Madrid and Juventus both had chances, many tricky moments’

Xabi Alonso confirms Real Madrid had ‘many tricky moments’ in their 1-0 win over Juventus and risked conceding the equaliser late on. ‘Anything could still have happened.’

The Merengues had needed Thibaut Courtois to make some early saves at the Estadio Bernabeu, only really making an impact after the opening 15 minutes.

Michele Di Gregorio was tested several times too, along with a Federico Gatti goal-line clearance, but the lone goal saw Jude Bellingham ready to tap in after a Vinicius angled drive bounced off the far post.

“We expected it to be tough, for the quality of the Juve players and the ideas of their coach,” Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso told Sky Sport Italia.

“We knew it would be difficult and balanced, with many tricky moments. I said at half-time that we had to keep going like this, that our moment would come.”

Check the Football Italia Player Ratings for Real Madrid 1-0 Juventus

For all the Real Madrid scoring opportunities, Juventus did risk getting an equaliser late on with Lois Openda.

“We didn’t finish it off, so anything could still have happened. There were many scoring opportunities for both teams this evening, as we had ours, but so did Juve. There were some good performances from the individuals in defence and the two goalkeepers.”

Is this the Juventus team that he expected to see, considering their recent troubles in Serie A and the Champions League?

“I expected Juventus to be solid, with a lot of individual qualities, able to battle hard, with Vlahovic very dangerous in duels. They work hard and will certainly improve as the season goes on.”
Real Madrid hope to maintain their momentum going into this weekend’s massive Clasico against bitter rivals Barcelona in LaLiga. Will any of their injured players recover?

“We have to wait and see. Raul Asencio needs to be evaluated.”