Xabi said it’s time to Rock ‘n Roll
The Daily Merengue is a place where you can feel free to d all things football. Do not be alarmed by the overt RMCF bias. It’s in the name! Shoutout to the mods who do a fantastic job, Valyrian Steel, Felipejack, Juninho, NeRObutBlanco and yours truly, Kung_Fu_Zizou
The Spectacular Kylian Mbappe Lottin
Kylian scored a spectacular winner to make it 3-1 after Rudiger gave Dortmund the ball in the Real Madrid penalty area. Huijsen would follow that up with a carbon-copy of the Raul Asencio red card infringement against Pachuca. Guirassy made it 3-2 from tye spot before Courtois valiantly thwarted Sabitzer at the death to send Real Madrid to the semifinals.
Xabi Alonso: “What happened? This is football. Many thing happened in a short time. But now we’re in the semifinal. We could do better but I’m happy.” pic.twitter.com/NnYKEy4KpL
— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) July 5, 2025
Courtois said, “No!”
Thibaut Courtois: “My save? I saved it with all my soul, I didn’t want extra time.” pic.twitter.com/efUl9Mbw6x
— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) July 5, 2025
Courtois will always be key if we’re gonna win anything. He’s gonna have to be in legendary form against PSG. Huijsen’s red card while annoying will mean we return to last season’s CB pairing of Rudiger and Asencio.
Focus on Mickey Mouse
Xabi Alonso: “When we started this tournament, we has 2 goals in mind:
– Winning the tournament
– Improving our football.” pic.twitter.com/FJQejzE6hh— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) July 5, 2025
Xabi understands the club. He knows that winning is everything at Real Madrid. He’s got a difficult task as any manager would. You have to win. So far he’s delivered good football and results but if he doesn’t win the tournament he will have one thing for certain, a much improved Real Madrid team.
Xabi Alonso: “When we compare the 1st half of our game against Al-Hilal, and our game tonight, I think there’s a clear improvement.
We must keep improving.” pic.twitter.com/05hr27y8nO
— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) July 5, 2025
Aure The Definer
From one of Carlo’s whipping boy to a touchstone of the Xabi Alonso era. Xabi has pointed out now as we would have noticed that Tchouaméni’s position tells us if we’re playing a back 4 or back 3 or 5. The manager explained that Tchouaméni gets to decide by dropping deep or pushing up into midfield.
It was refreshing to see him roaming around the midfield in this new system.
Arda Guler – Real Madrid’s Next #10
Ancelotti didn’t have the appetite for risk with Arda Guler. Xabi has gone in at the deep end and trusted the young Turk to help him win his first trophy as the Real Madrid manager. Arda got two assists against Dortmund. One for the opener and one for the fabulous winner.
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