Madrid, Sep 16 (IANS) Record holders of the UEFA Champions League, Real Madrid, begin their 2025/26 campaign against Marseille on Wednesday (IST). Given the rich history of the club, head coach Xabi Alonso is even more motivated.

Having taken over the reins from Carlo Ancelotti this season, Alonso has big boots to fill, as the club is synonymous with European success.

“We face it with the maximum enthusiasm of playing the Champions League with Real Madrid. For this team it is special and playing at the Bernabéu, with the history it has, is even more motivating. People are eager to take steps, to continue growing and play against a demanding and high-level rival. Tomorrow we have a demanding, high-level rival and we hope to start well,” said Alonso in the pre-game conference.

A lot of the talk has been around forward Kylian Mbappe. After falling short of winning the UCL with Paris Saint Germain, Mbappe moved to Real Madrid at the beginning of the 2024/25 campaign. In his first year at Real, Paris Saint-Germain won their maiden European title.

Alonso does not believe there is any sense of anxiety in Mbappe, but the Spanish coach believes the Frenchman, alongside the club, need to walk on the right part and they will claim the trophy sooner rather than later.

“I don’t see him anxious. We are all feeling that this is a project that is beginning. Within the project of being in Madrid, one of the goals along the way is to win the Champions League. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later and that we are travelling the right path to get there. Kylian is part of this. Today we talked about what the Champions League means, but we haven’t talked about May, we’ve talked about the closest thing,” he added.

–IANS

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