Carlo Ancelotti left, Xabi Alonso came and made some improvements which can be good foundation for Real Madrid gaining better results in matches with Barcelona in this season. They don't want to lose more matches to this traditional competitor and they actually work hard to beat Barcelona.
Even if Madrid loose all their games against Barcelona in the la liga and latter won every other Laliga games, I believe they will not be denied of the league title, provided they were able to accumulate the exactly needed numbers of points ahead of others, Barcelona alone is not the problem Madrid has gotten in their domestic league or even in the champions league. Xabi I believe understands this and I even think if they focus on winning the rest of the other games they are mostly going to have a really good chance at the LALIGA title this season if eventually they loose the champions league.