Real Madrid pick up important victory against Alaves

Real Madrid have kept pace with Barcelona at the top of La Liga after picking up a crucial 1-0 victory over Alaves in a match that saw two red cards at Mendizorroza.

Carlo Ancelotti made the bold decision to rest Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior from the start with a view to next week’s Champions League quarter-final second leg against Arsenal, and in the opening stages, Real Madrid found it difficult to break down the strong press of Alaves. But they did think they had the lead on 19 minutes when Raul Asencio headed home, but Antonio Rudiger was adjudged to have committed a foul in the build-up on Jesus Owono.

Fortunately for Real Madrid, they were able to find the opening goal soon after. After neat play involving Federico Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga, the latter turned on the edge of the box before curling an unstoppable effort into the far corner.

But no quicker than Real Madrid scored, they were reduced to 10 men. And it was Kylian Mbappe that was shown the red card for a wild lunge on Alaves midfielder Antonio Blanco, who came through the ranks at La Fabrica. On-field referee Cesar Soto Grado gave a yellow initially, but after being called over to the monitor by the VAR team, he had no hesitation in producing the red.

Real Madrid were up against it in the second half, but they were able to sit relatively comfortably. And on 70 minutes, it was 10 v 10 as Manu Sanchez was sent off for an equally wild challenge on Vinicius Junior.

In the end, there were no more goals at Mendizorroza. The result means that Real Madrid move back to within four points of Barcelona at the top of the La Liga standings, while Alaves stay in 17th.