Xabi Alonso said he "likes to see Vinícius Júnior smiling" after the Real Madrid forward excelled in midweek, ahead of Saturday's high-stakes Madrid Derby.

Vinícius hasn't been a guaranteed starter under Alonso so far -- being benched in two of Madrid's seven games this season -- but performed well and scored an outstanding goal in the team's 4-1 win at Levante on Tuesday.

Real Madrid go into Saturday's LaLiga game at the Metropolitano top of the table with six wins out of six, while rivals Atlético Madrid have struggled, needing a late comeback to beat Rayo Vallecano 3-2 on Wednesday, and sitting nine points behind Real Madrid.

"Vini is a fundamental player for us," Alonso said in his pre-match news conference on Friday. "The other day [against Levante] he played a great ga

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