'We must be realistic' – Alonso not getting carried away with perfect start

Xabi Alonso believes that his Real Madrid players "must be realistic" about their form despite making a perfect start to their 2025-26 campaign. 

Madrid are the only team in LaLiga to win all five of their matches so far and are two points clear at the summit of the standings following their 2-0 win over Espanyol on Saturday. 

In Europe, Los Blancos kicked off their Champions League by beating Marseille 2-1 at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, but attention now turns to domestic action. 

Alonso's side make the trip to Estadio Ciudad de Valencia to take on Levante, with Julian Calero's riding high following a 4-0 win over Girona in their last league encounter. 

And Alonso is looking to become the second Madrid manager to win each of his first six matches in LaLiga history after Vanderlei Luxemburgo, who won his first seven in 2005.

While the former Bayer Leverkusen boss stated that results prove Madrid are heading in the right direction, he acknowledged certain areas for improvement moving forward. 

"We must keep going and be realistic," said Alonso. "We're still building, although the results help give us confidence that we're on the right track. There are no secrets.

"The team has to play collectively so that everyone benefits. That's going to be one of the important things this season. We're improving, we're on the right track.

"We're still in the process of building the foundations and pillars. We need to be more consistent in our repetition. The other day we put in a strong, solid performance.

"We can improve, but that tells us we're doing things right. It's only six games, it's nothing. We must have the ambition to want more and be hungry.

"This year we want to collect a lot of points, and to do that we have to win a lot of games. Any away game is difficult.

"Levante are playing well, not only because of their last victory in Girona, but also against Betis, and in the first league game, they caused Barcelona a lot of difficulties."

Another positive for Alonso and Madrid from their triumph over Espanyol was the return of midfield duo Jude Bellingham and Eduardo Camavinga. 

Both Bellingham and Camavinga were introduced in the closing stages of that win, replacing Aurelien Tchouameni and Kylian Mbappe, respectively. 

"They [Bellingham and Camavinga] could be starters tomorrow," Alonso revealed. 

"Anyone who is in the squad could be a starter. They have trained and played more and are in better shape."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Levante – Etta Eyong

Etta Eyong has enjoyed a fantastic start to the LaLiga season, directly contributing to goals in each of his five matches so far (three goals, three assists).

He registered one goal and two assists for Villarreal in their opening three games before scoring twice and assisting once for Levante after his deadline day move.

Real Madrid – Kylian Mbappe

Mbappe is the league's top scorer with five goals, and is level with Eyong for the most direct contributions (six).

The Frenchman has scored in all but one match this season for both club and country, only blanking against Mallorca, where he had two goals disallowed for offside.

MATCH PREDICTION – REAL MADRID WIN

Madrid have won all five of their LaLiga matches in the 2025-26 season and can win their first six matches of a season in the competition for the sixth time in the competition's history (1958-59, 1961-62, 1968-69, 1987-88, and 2022-23).

Los Blancos have also only lost three of their 13 away games played on Tuesday in LaLiga history (won four, drawn six), while they have won each of the last three.

The hosts will also need to keep a keen eye on Vinicius Junior. He has scored six goals in seven LaLiga matches against Levante, including his first brace in the competition in August 2021 and his maiden LaLiga hat-trick in May 2022.

Levante, meanwhile, have lost 11 of their 16 home games against Madrid in LaLiga (won two, drawn three), suffering more home defeats against them than against any other side in the competition.

However, Madrid have only won two of their last five LaLiga away games against Levante (drawn two, lost one), after winning nine of their previous 11 visits in the competition (drawn one, lost one), so they could be in for a tough test here. 

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Levante – 14.5%

Draw – 18.2%

Real Madrid – 67.3%