Fede Valverde’s blistering free-kick and a Rodrygo Goes strike helped Madrid claim a fifth consecutive victory across all competitions, with Alexander Sorloth pulling one back for Diego Simeone’s Atletico, who came up short in Jeddah.
Alonso was close to the sack after a run of inconsistent form towards the end of 2025 but his team have slowly found their footing in the shape of positive results, even if some performances have not been entirely convincing.
The Spanish coach led Madrid to a win over Barcelona in his first Clasico at the helm in October, before his team began to slump.
“After so many games without scoring, today was a great game to get back to it, to help the team win,” Valverde told Movistar after netting his first goal of the campaign.
“We have to keep being self-critical too, we had chances but they had more and played much better than us, we have to keep correcting that and improving.”
Alonso did not agree with Valverde’s analysis.
“It’s a semi-final, having scored early gives you that advantage that you want to defend,” said the coach. “There were phases where we were defending but the objective was to go through to the final, and we’re happy to be playing that on Sunday.”
With French superstar Kylian Mbappe out as he recovers from a knee sprain, Alonso kept young striker Gonzalo Garcia in the centre of the attack after his hat-trick against Real Betis on Sunday.
Atletico beat their city rivals 5-2 when the teams met in September in a La Liga derby but this was a far closer affair.
Los Blancos took the lead after just two minutes when Valverde’s ferocious free-kick flew past Sorloth in a poorly-positioned wall and rocketed past Jan Oblak.
The Norwegian Atletico forward might have done more to block it and Oblak got his hand to the shot but could not keep it out because of the sheer power.
Valverde celebrated vehemently, slapping his own head, clearly delighted at breaking his duck in a difficult season to date.
By taking the lead Real Madrid earned the right to sit deeper and force Atletico to try and attack them to pull back level.
Madrid hit the Rojiblancos when they could on the counter, with Oblak saving well from Rodrygo after he floated inside from the right.
Atletico began to create some chances and could have pulled level before the interval.
Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois tipped away Sorloth’s header and then the target man clumsily nodded Conor Gallagher’s cross off-target from close range. (AFP)
