Xabi Alonso doesn't respond to Lamine Yamal's "they steal and complain" response: "There are many statements from people at Barcelona."

"Of course they do, they steal, they complain ..." This week, Lamine Yamal compared Ibai Llanos' Kings League team, 'Porcinos', to Real Madrid . All in the run-up to a derby that is played this Sunday (4:15 pm) at the Santiago Bernabéu and which arrives with controversy, although Xabi Alonso did not want to add fuel to the fire of the young Barça player's statements.

" I'm not going to get into it ," he responded, referring to Yamal's comments. " There are a lot of statements from people at Barcelona , ​​and I can't analyze them all," he added, trying to focus on the mental and sporting aspects of his team a few weeks after the resounding defeat in the Madrid derby against Atlético.

"It's been a few weeks now, and we've corrected several things. We're in good shape, both mentally and football-wise. It's a good time competitively," explained the Tolosa native, who has Carvajal, Trent, and Huijsen back for the match against their arch-rivals. "Almost everyone in the squad could start, but it depends on what we need technically and tactically, and we'll see," he said.

Alonso insisted that this is " the first Clásico of this project ," once again declaring that his team "is under construction," but admitting that "tomorrow is the time." "There are similar situations to last year's Clásicos, but we're at a different stage. Our project is just starting , we've analyzed everything, and we want to leverage our strengths," he explained.

"We're still almost in November"

Having overcome the defeat against Atlético and with the boost of having won everything in La Liga and the Champions League despite that match, the coach doesn't see this match as a key moment in the project because "no trophies are awarded in November." " I don't know if it's decisive for the project . They're important matches, and I don't just like to evaluate the results, but also the process. There's growth in these matches, and we have room for improvement. We're still almost in November, no trophies are awarded, nothing has been won, and there's still a lot of season left. Right now, the most important thing is tomorrow; we only have the Clásico on our minds."

The coach stated that he saw the locker room "motivated," "they know what the game means," and praised the team's level. " I like how we're playing . We're competing well, but we can play better. We're building a solid foundation to be reliable, and we have to take the next step. We have to be prepared and compete at the highest level. I don't think about anything else, just to ensure the players have the adrenaline they need to play a game like this."