Real Madrid survive late Alaves fightback to secure fifth successive victory.
Match Report
It was another successful evening for Real Madrid on Tuesday, but only just in the end. They had been on course for a comfortable victory over Alaves at the Santiago Bernabeu, but late goals ended up making it very nervy.
Rather surprisingly, Carlo Ancelotti named a full-strength line-up for the match, despite the Madrid derby against Atletico Madrid being this weekend. Nevertheless, it paid dividends inside the opening minute as stand-in captain Lucas Vazquez fired home following a Vinicius Junior cutback.
Kylian Mbappe would make it 2-0 inside the first half, and it was his best goal in a Real Madrid shirt so far. He exchanged passes with Jude Bellingham before slicing through the Alaves defence and ultimately finishing beyond the hapless Antonio Sivera.
Into the second half, it was another fine solo goal for Real Madrid’s third of the evening. Rodrygo Goes collected the ball midway inside the Alaves half, and he drove brilliantly into the penalty area before firing through Sivera’s legs from a tight angle.
Real Madrid were easing to victory at that stage, but after taking off Eder Militao for Jesus Vallejo, they suddenly fell apart. Firstly, Carlos Protesoni ended Los Blancos’ hopes of a clean sheet, and two minutes later, he was joined on the scoresheet by Kike Garcia. That made it very tense at the Bernabeu, but the hosts were able to hang on.
The result sees Real Madrid move back to within one point of Barcelona, who play their MD7 fixture against Getafe on Wednesday.
Match Events
0' The match is about to start!
1' Goal on the first minute! Vazquez goal, Vini Jr assists! Real Madrid 1-0 Alaves
4' Valverde booked yellow due to foul
11' Vinicius Jr catched down but no foul
18' Vini Jr's beautiful long pass off line before Rodrygo catches
22' Mbappe's goal disallowed as he is off side
25' Bellingham's brilliant long shot catches Mbappe but attempt stopped
30' Vinicius booked yellow card
31' Rodrygo fouled and wins a free kick
40' Los Blancos extends the lead as Mbappe scores! Real Madrid 2-0 Alaves
48' Rodrygo nets as Vinicius assists! Real Madrid 3-0 Alaves
50' CLOSE! Vinicius' shot in the center of the box wide out
68' Valverde & Rodrygo off, Modric & Endrick on
72' CLOSE! Endrick's shot in the box hits the post
75' CLOSE! Alaves' shot hits the post
80' Mbappe off, Guler on
83' Endrick booked yellow
85' Protesoni's long shot adds one for guests! Real Madrid 3-1 Alaves
86' Kike García adds it to 2 in short time! Real Madrid 3-2 Alaves
Line-ups
Real Madrid XI: Courtois, Rudiger, Vazquez, F Mendy, Mbappe, Valverde, Militao, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Vinicius, Rodrygo, Jude Bellingham
Subs: Modric, Vallejo, Andriy Lunin, Fran García, Arda Güler, David Jiménez, Endrick, Fran González, Jacobo Ramón
Alaves XI: Asier Villalibre, Sivera, Tomás Conechny, Carlos Protesoni, Antonio Blanco, Abdel Abqar, Moussa Diarra, Manu Sanchez, Hugo Novoa, Luka Romero, Santiago Mouriño
Subs: Kike, Aleksandar Sedlar, Stoichkov, Jordan, Guridi, A.Martínez, Ander Guevara, Carlos Vicente, Jesús Owono, Abde Rebbach, Carlos Martín, Adrián Pica
RMDiehard
105
But this guy can never be a flopped.
Anuolu190
104
The substitute was shit , almost had a heart attack 🥹🥲
Detaekloty
74
i think sub valvarde was bad idea.. vini should sub instead of mbapee
zubsain55
73
carlo after 87mins
dougiefresh
66
Certain fan base had a lot to say when Kylian Mbappé 💎⭐⚽️🥅💯✅went goalless in his first three La Liga games for Real Madrid. Since then: ⚽⚽ vs. Real Betis ⚽ vs. Real Sociedad ⚽ vs. Espanyol ⚽ vs. Alaves NOW THAT'S HOW YOU SILENCE THE CRITICS😤
Josedad
58
“Neymar didn’t win the ballon d’or because of Messi and Ronaldo “ He is 32 years old,playing in Saudi Arabia. Benzema woke up it at 35, modric won it at 33,what is stopping Neymar? POV: Guys 🔜
Jayjay749
40
Ancelotti doesn’t have clear ideas he just relies on his quality players to provide moments of brilliance It was clearly showed when he brought off some of his big guns