Alonso reflected on derby defeat on the plane and communicated with the players

"It hurts... but it's still a positive pain for the future." 

That was Xabi Alonso's message after the derby setback. The best summary. A statement of intent similar to the one he made after the World Cup thrashing against PSG. "We have to learn from our mistakes," he summarized at the time. And he did, until he achieved a perfect seven that filled with hope a thermometer that Atlético de Madrid made explode at the Metropolitano. Now, back on the couch. With Xabi aware of the debacle, without sugarcoating it, and of the blunders, his own included. Of the deadly sins that blew up the derby. The atonement began on the way to Almaty. Therapy at over 30,000 feet.

Around 1:50 p.m., the white expedition set sail for Kazakhstan. From Valdebebas to Barajas. One by one, the 22, without Militao or Carvajal and with David Jiménez and Javi Navarro as third goalkeepers, boarded the charter. With a serious expression, the same look with which they landed, around 9:00 p.m. (midnight local time), in the former Kazakh capital (now Astana). With the same look they arrived at the Intercontinental, which will be their headquarters in the city of apples (it is the symbol of the city, as all the apple trees originate from the primordial one, in Almaty), where they were greeted by a roar of over 300 people who could only see their idols from afar. It was a flight of about seven hours. More than 6,400 kilometers of reflection.

Time taken by Xabi to start healing the wound. Without causing bloodshed, just to cushion the blow. A journey in which Tolosarra took advantage to have several sessions with players to address specific issues and, above all, to insert the scalpel alongside his coaching staff. In search of solutions to what happened, to the problems already detected. Starting with his own. Those controversial decisions that complicated the afternoon from the whistle. 

Like Bellingham's starting lineup, which, as it turned out, was hasty.

He had been feeling ready for some time and, as AS reported, the derby was his D-Day. Xabi understood the same, but courage turned into recklessness. The Englishman looked far from his level and, above all, out of place. And it's this second part that is worrying. The first simply requires playing time. The full-strength Madrid had worked with Güler in the engine room and a winger. On most nights Mastantuono, but also Brahim. With Jude, everything changed. And the team fell apart.

Problems, all of them, on Xabi's table and in his personal notebook. The one he uses to wipe the slate clean. So that the debacle on another big day, and they're two behind PSG, doesn't happen again. Not because of the why of the defeat, but because of the how. Although the one in the World Cup was understood as something more accidental, since the real warning has been the derby. And Xabi has made it clear to his players. Both after the game and during the flight: the defeat must act as a bandage before the potential wound.