Xabi Alonso Hails Improvement In Real Madrid Performances

Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso has insisted that Los Merengues have improved greatly as a team since the start of the season and added that teamwork in defence has been a crucial factor in the improvement.

Madrid ended a 19 year hoodoo at the Riazor by beating Deportivo La Coruna last week and Alonso feels that performances away to some of the Primera Liga's
 strongest sides are a measure of the improvement Los Blancos have made since the start of the campaign.

"At the start of the season the results were good but the perfomance was not. Since December we have gained a sense of how toplay and our margin of improvement has grown," he told AS.

"Against Valencia, Barcelona and in La Coruna we saw what we can do but we are self-critical not to stagnate and we want to play better. The key is to defend. The better we defend then the better we attack. We rehearse every morning in Valdebebas and the results are there to be seen."

"In the first half at the Riazor we had a great game with great control and possession, helped up by the mobility of Karim [Benzema], Kaka and Raul. We recover quickly and at the back we were solid."