Real Madrid bounced back from their four-match winless run and kept their slim title hopes in La Liga alive with a 2-1 victory over Alaves on Tuesday. Goals from Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr got the job done for Alvaro Arbeloa’s side, who closed the gap on leaders Barcelona to six points for at least the next 24 hours.
Amid loud whistles from the home fans towards their players, Madrid started slowly, and Dean Huijsen had to be alert to block a shot from Lucas Boye after Alvaro Carreras was caught out by a long ball over the top. Andriy Lunin, meanwhile, parried a low effort from Toni Martinez as the relegation-threatened visitors began the game in confident mood.
Madrid did, however, break the deadlock on the half-hour mark when Mbappe’s shot from 20 yards took a wicked deflection to leave Alaves goalkeeper Antonio Sivera. That seemed to spark Los Blancos into life, too, as Mbappe then stung Sivera’s palms, Trent Alexander-Arnold fired narrowly over and Eder Militao hooked an effort onto the crossbar, albeit he suffered an injury in the process that forced him off shortly before half-time.
Alaves still created opportunities of their own, and Martinez went close twice in quick succession, as he first hit the post before having a volley saved by Lunin. Madrid, though, made the game safe early in the second period when Vinicius whipped in a shot from 25 yards to silence those who had been jeering him since the first whistle.
That sparked Arbeloa into a number of changes and one of his substitutes, Brahim Diaz, immediately had a shot cleared off the line. But the alterations also meant Madrid lost a little rhythm, and Alaves continued to probe, with Lunin again called into action to push away a fierce strike from Martinez before Victor Parada hit the post with a diving header.
Martinez did eventually get his goal in stoppage time with a clever flick past Lunin, but it proved to be too little, too late.
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