Ahead of a crucial group stage clash between Real Madrid and Pachuca in the FIFA Club World Cup, Los Blancos’ head coach, Xabi Alonso, stated that there’s no need to “recover” Vinicius Jr., but emphasized the importance of encouraging the Brazilian to become a decisive player at this stage of the tournament.
Expecting a Leading Role from Vinicius
“I don’t think he needs to be recovered, but we do want to push him to be decisive. Vini has that special quality, that unique kind of football. That’s what makes him such a different player. For Sunday, we hope he’ll be fundamental and throughout the season, I’m sure he will be,” Alonso said at the pre-match press conference held at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
The coach also stressed the importance of securing a win:
“We want to win. In such a short competition like this, during the group stage we need to pick up three points and keep the good feeling we had from the previous game. We’ve only had a few days of work, everything takes time, but the calendar forces us to compete well from the start.”
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