Real Madrid 1 – 0 Alavés
Spanish champions Real Madrid edged past Deportivo Alavés to close the gap with Barcelona at the top of the La Liga table.
Still reeling from a heavy defeat at Arsenal, Madrid didn’t look like their usual dominant selves. But thanks to a moment of brilliance from Eduardo Camavinga, they managed to find the breakthrough. The situation worsened for Madrid when Kylian Mbappé was shown a red card for a dangerous tackle, but things evened out in the second half as an Alavés player was also sent off. Holding on to their slender lead, Madrid secured a much-needed win.
The match at Alavés’ home ground ended 1-0 in Real Madrid’s favor on Sunday night.
Madrid came into the game after a disappointing 1-0 loss to Valencia in the league and a crushing 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Champions League just three days earlier.
With a massive task ahead in the Champions League return leg at the Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid needed to regain some confidence—and they managed to do just that with this narrow win.
With Vinícius Jr. and Jude Bellingham rested, Madrid lacked their usual attacking flair. Alavés created two early chances within the first three minutes: Carles Aleñá’s shot was blocked, and Abdel Abqar’s effort went wide.
In the 9th minute, Arda Güler failed to connect with a ball inside the box. Real players appealed for a penalty after a collision with the goalkeeper, but the referee waved it off.
In the 14th minute, Kike García’s shot from outside the box was safely gathered by Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. Four minutes later, Rodrygo tested the Alavés keeper again.
In the 19th minute, Raúl Asencio thought he had scored his first goal for Real Madrid with a header from a corner—but VAR ruled it out for a foul by Antonio Rüdiger on the Alavés keeper.
Real began to settle and gain control of the midfield. In the 34th minute, Camavinga received a pass from Federico Valverde just outside the box and rifled a low shot past the post and into the net.
Alavés almost equalized two minutes later, but Carlos Vicente’s curling shot narrowly missed the target.
Then came a major blow for Madrid in the 38th minute. Kylian Mbappé was initially shown a yellow card for a reckless challenge on Antonio Blanco, but after a VAR review, the referee upgraded it to a straight red. It was a dangerous tackle that could have caused serious injury. From the bench, coach Carlo Ancelotti’s son and assistant Davide Ancelotti threw his hands up in frustration after seeing the replay.
It was Mbappé’s fourth career red card, his previous three all coming while playing for PSG.
With only ten men, Madrid dropped deep to defend, and Alavés tried to capitalize. But they couldn’t create any clear chances before halftime.
Early in the second half, Alavés launched a series of attacks. In the 50th minute, García missed a good opportunity, and a minute later, Carlos Martín’s shot was saved by Courtois.
Vinícius and Bellingham came on in the 63rd minute. A minute later, Courtois was called into action again, diving to save a Toni Martínez shot.
In the 70th minute, Alavés were also reduced to 10 men when Manu Sánchez fouled Vinícius from behind. After a VAR check, he was shown a red card.
A minute later, Valverde’s powerful shot from outside the box narrowly missed the target.
In the 89th minute, Jude Bellingham had a golden opportunity to double the lead in a one-on-one situation, but his shot went straight at the goalkeeper.
With 20 wins and 6 draws in 31 games, Madrid now sit second in the table with 66 points. Barcelona lead the way with 70 points from the same number of matches.
Alavés, meanwhile, remain in 17th place with 30 points.
