Real Madrid survive late Alaves fightback to secure fifth successive victory

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.

Game on!

A quick Alaves double and all of a sudden it's 3-2 and Real Madrid's win isn't secure yet pic.twitter.com/gHXXnJhIvB

— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) September 24, 2024

The result sees Real Madrid move back to within one point of Barcelona, who play their MD7 fixture against Getafe on Wednesday.

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