Alonso urges Madrid to 'turn the page' in UCL after Atletico humbling

Xabi Alonso has urged his Real Madrid players to "turn the page" upon their return to the Champions League after their humiliating derby defeat to Atletico Madrid. 

Alonso and his team will make the long journey to Kazakhstan to take on Kairat at Ortalyq Stadion on Tuesday, hoping to bounce back after their first loss of the season. 

Los Blancos were beaten 5-2 by rivals Atletico on Saturday, with Julian Alvarez's second-half brace leading Diego Simeone's side to a much-needed triumph. 

The result meant Alonso failed to follow in the footsteps of Vanderlei Luxemburgo, who was the last Madrid boss to win his first seven games at the helm in LaLiga, in 2005.

But now his attention has swiftly turned to the Champions League, with Madrid having opened their campaign with a 2-1 win over Marseille at the Santiago Bernabeu. 

"Both in victory and in defeat, the feeling has to last 24 hours. We have to turn the page. We are in the Champions League," Alonso told reporters on Monday.

"The 24 hours after the game, you are hooked, but we are already thinking about tomorrow. We don't want to drop important points.

"We didn't compete well. We've done the analysis, and we're going to use it. Now, it's Champions League mode."

Kairat's game against Madrid will be just the second fixture played between sides from Kazakhstan and Spain in the European Cup or Champions League, after Astana's meetings with Atletico in the 2015-16 group stage. 

Los Blancos have only lost in three of the last 30 instances when facing a team for the first time in the European Cup or the Champions League (W24 D3), suffering defeats against Lille in 2024 (0-1), Sheriff Tiraspol in 2021 (1-2) and Wolfsburg in 2016 (0-2).

Though Kairat's campaign started with a 4-1 defeat away to Sporting CP, there were plenty of positives for Rafael Urazbakhtin's side to take from the result. 

They travelled 4,292 miles from their Almaty Central Stadium in Kazakhstan to Sporting CP's Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon, Portugal for their last game, the biggest distance between two sides facing each other in the history of the Champions League.

And though Kairat will be on home turf this time around, Alonso reiterated that the long trip should not affect Madrid's performance on the pitch. 

"You have to adapt. We have changed the usual roadmap a little, but in football, the smartest person is the one who knows how to adapt best," Alonso added.

"It's just another game and that's not an impediment or an excuse. After starting with the victory, we want to prolong it more."

Madrid have beaten 111 different opponents in the European Cup and Champions League, more than any other team.

The only teams they have faced across the two competitions and not managed to beat – of 114 opponents overall – are Arsenal (four times), AEK Athens (two) and Lille (one).