Real Madrid kept pace with Barcelona at the top of La Liga after winning a crucial 1-0 win over Alaves in a match that saw two red cards in Mendizorroza.
Match report
Carlo Ancelotti made the daring decision to let Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior rest from the start with a view to the Champions League Quarte final second stage of next week against Arsenal, and in the opening phase Real Madrid found it difficult to break down the strong press of Alaves. But they thought they were in charge of 19 minutes when Raul Asencio went home, but Antonio Rudiger was assessed to have committed an error in the construction of Jesus Owono.
Fortunately for Real Madrid they could find the opening goal shortly thereafter. After a tidy game with Federico Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga, the latter turned on the edge of the box before he curled an unstoppable attempt in the far corner.
But no faster than Real Madrid scored, they were reduced to 10 men. And it was Kylian Mbappe who was shown the red card for a wild outages on Alaves -midfielder Antonio Blanco, who came through the ranks in La Fabrica. Referee Cesar Soto Grado on the field initially gave a yellow, but after he was called to the monitor by the VAR team, he did not hesitate in producing the red.
Real Madrid was against it in the second half, but they could sit relatively comfortable. And at 70 minutes it was 10 V 10 when Manu Sanchez was sent for an equally wild challenge at Vinicius Junior.
In the end there were no more goals in Mendizorroza. The result means that Real Madrid goes back inside four points of Barcelona at the top of the La Liga rankings, while Alaves stay in the 17th.
Match -Events
0 'The game is about to start!
3 'Abqar right foot shot is too high after a corner
13 'García's shot from outside the box is saved by Courtois
19 'Asencio scores, but the goal is excluded for an error after VAR review
29 'Highlight of Alaves vs Real Madrid
34 'A sensational purpose of Camavinga opens the score! Alaves 0-1 Real Madrid
38 'Red card! Kylian Mbappé is sent for a terrible mistake!
45 'Highlight of Alaves vs Real Madrid
46 'Highlight of Alaves vs Real Madrid
47 'Highlight of Alaves vs Real Madrid
55 'Valverde goes down after a serious collision
57 'Kike's header is stored in the middle of the goal
62 'Vinicius & Bellingham come to replace Güler & Rodrygo
70 'Red card! Manu Sanchez is sent for an error on Vinicius
71 'Valverde's shot from a distance is just wide!
75 'Match event for Alaves vs Real Madrid
83 'Highlight of Alaves vs Real Madrid
Line-ups
Alaves XI: Kike, Jordan, Alena, Nahuel Tenaglia, Antonio Blanco, Carlos Vicente, Abdel Abqar, Manu Sanchez, Jesús Owono, Carlos Martín, Santiago Mouriño
Subs: Aleksandar Sedlar, Asier Villalibre, A.Martínez, Carlos Protesoni, other Guevara, Facundo Garcés, Moussa Diarra, Adrián Rodríguez, Hugo Novoa, Adrián Pica, Pau Cabanes
Real Madrid XI: Courtois, Rudiger, Vazquez, Mbappe, Valverde, Fran García, Tchouameni, Rodrygo, Camavinga, Güler, Raúl Asencio
Subs: Modric, Alaba, Vallejo, Ceballos, Brahim, Vinicius, Bellingham, Endrick, Fran González, Sergio Mestre
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