Second in the Liga standings at the start of this match against Alavés counting for the seventh day, Real Madrid had a good opportunity to put a little pressure on FC Barcelona. A victory for the Merengues would allow them to come back to within a point of the Blaugranas who will host Getafe tomorrow. For this match, Carlo Ancelotti made a few changes. Aurélien Tchouaméni returned to his place in midfield, Lucas Vazquez replaced Dani Carvajal and this time, Ancelotti lined up his magic quartet Bellingham, Rodrygo, Vinicius Jr and Mbappé, who once again started in the center forward position. A lack of rotation that did not go unnoticed with the Merengues’ overloaded schedule. But no matter.
In this match, Madrid only waited 54 seconds to make the difference. Announced as the very likely winner of the Ballon d’Or 2024, Vinicius Jr made a lightning acceleration on the left side before serving his captain of the evening, Lucas Vazquez, for the opening score (1-0). This thunderous start to the match did not, however, herald a first half of madness. Apart from a great save by Thibaut Courtois on a strike by Tomás Conechny (13th) and a goal disallowed for Kylian Mbappé served in an offside position (22nd), we did not have much to get our teeth into, apart from a few accelerations by Vinicius Jr. We had to wait until the 40th minute to see Mbappé score one of his best goals in his new colours. After a backheel pass to Bellingham, the Bondy player was served by the Englishman in return before going to erase Diarra with a hook to crucify Sivera (2-0). The break was made just before the break.
Madrid got a big scare
After the break, the scenario was almost identical. Real Madrid managed to score very quickly, through Rodrygo (48th, 3-0) and the match then lost intensity. In the 68th minute, Ancelotti decided to take off Rodrygo and Valverde to replace them with Endrick and Modric. The young Brazilian did not wait long to distinguish himself. Despite his small size, he was able to resist Diarra before unleashing a shot that hit the post (73rd). The former Palmeiras player should have been sent off after a bad gesture (a kick) on Mouriño, which was simply punished with a yellow card (83rd). But the controversy did not last long, because Alavés offered us a crazy end to the match.
After the post was found by Abderrahmane Rebbach, whose shot was clear (77th), Benavidez thought he had scored a goal for honour with a magnificent curling shot from his left foot (3-1, 85th). Two minutes later, the same Benavidez found Kike Garcia in depth for the 3-2 goal (87th). All of Madrid was trembling, because any result other than a victory offered a golden opportunity to the Barcelona rival to escape the next day. Fortunately for the lovers of the Casa Blanca, Mbappé’s teammates held on. In the standings, Madrid remains second, but is one length behind Barça. For its part, Alavés falls to eighth place.
Relive the match film
