The Spaniard opened the scoring on the South Coast after just eight minutes, when he drilled a low shot through the legs of goalkeeper Fraser Forster to set us on our way to an emphatic 6-0 victory in the Premier League.

It was obviously a performance and a goal he enjoyed, but with the second leg of our Champions League quarter-final against his former club Real Madrid coming up on Tuesday evening, he is already looking ahead.

‘I’m very happy always to help the team,’ said Alonso. ‘It was a goal feast out there and I’m very happy for that and on to the next one already.’

However, our wing-back did acknowledge the importance of the victory over Southampton, as well as the manner of the win, believing it was crucial for the Blues to get back to winning ways with a good performance after back-to-back defeats against Real Madrid and Brentford.

‘I think we played very well since the beginning. We were on the front foot today, winning things very well and I think that made the difference. Staying together and bouncing back after the defeat on Wednesday was what we had to do.

‘We players, we don’t like to lose. We aren’t used to it and obviously after two defeats we showed this hunger on the pitch and got the three points.’

Another important aspect to our performance at St Mary’s was the way we didn’t let our level drop after half-time, despite our 4-0 lead, coming out to get two more quick goals before managing the game comfortably.

‘We were still hungry for more and very solid, which I think is important. Obviously it’s not the same approach to the game when we’re 4-0 up already, but I think we played a good second half also, controlling the game and trying to move the ball side to side, and it was good to get a couple more goals.’

Despite enjoying the big win at Southampton, though, Alonso admits even if we match that performance in Madrid on Tuesday evening it will still be a tall order to progress in the Champions League, as we go into the tie 3-1 down from the first leg.

‘It will be tough because it’s Real Madrid and we’re two goals down, but we don’t lose hope,’ he added. ‘We are capable of doing a great match. Let’s see, there’s still 90 minutes to play. We need to be very focused, very humble and work very hard.’