Victory followed a month of pressure due to poor results and dressing-room conflict
Xabi Alonso believes the win against Olympiacos was important because it “changed the dynamic”, after the manager and his side had faced mounting pressure over the past month.
Madrid travelled to Greece under a lot of pressure after failing to win any of their past three games. There were also a lot of questions about Xabi Alonso’s ability to handle egos in the dressing room, after Vinicius Junior told the club he would not renew his contract due to tensions with the manager.
“Today it was important to change the dynamic,” Alonso said. “It was important in terms of qualification, and with the moment we’re in. We’re all united. We know it will be a long, demanding season. Today is a step forward.”
The night belonged to Kylian Mbappe, who scored four times, ripping the game away from the hosts with a blistering seven-minute hat-trick in the first half. Vinicius added two assists as Madrid recovered from going behind early to grab the win.
Olympiacos scored first and continued to threaten throughout, even after Mbappe had scored four goals. First the Frenchman ran through to put away a simple – for him – one-on-one finish, and then headed in moments later from an Arda Guler cross for his and Madrid’s second.
He completed his hat-trick in a similar way to how he scored his first, running through and pausing, before firing smoothly past the goalkeeper. He added a fourth in the second half after Vinicius had scorched past his man on the left and squared for his teammate.
Mbappe now leads the scoring charts domestically and in Europe, only months after winning the European golden boot.
The forward said: “There are things to improve, of course. I know people talk a lot on the outside. We have to protect the players, the coach, the staff. We’re all in this together.”
