"The first half will serve us to insist on what we have to improve"

The Xabi Alonso era at Madrid began with a draw (1-1). Al Hilal made things difficult from the start for the Spanish team, which could not do anything to achieve victory in the Club World Cup opener.

The ‘Merengue’ coach, speaking to 'DAZN' made an assessment of the match: "A mixture of everything. The result was a shame, we were better in the second half. I didn't like the first half too much, but it will help us to keep insisting on what we have to improve. We had some balance and we pushed them further down. I'm sticking to the second half, which was much better".

On the other hand, Xabi Alonso explained where his team went wrong in the first half: "We were rushing. We wanted to go too fast. We lacked a goal. The missed penalty can happen.

Finally, the Toulouse-born player congratulated debutants Huijsen and Alexander-Arnold. The Spanish international completed the full 90 minutes, while the Briton played 65'. "Dean has been very good and Trent has gone from strength to strength like the whole team," he concluded.