Real Madrid continue to ride the wave of success: On Tuesday evening, the Royals also beat Deportivo Alaves – with the final phase in particular serving as a warning shot for the upcoming city derby.
After a slow start to the new La Liga season, Real Madrid are gradually picking up speed. The reigning Champions League winners celebrated a 3-2 home victory against Deportivo Alaves on Tuesday evening. Vazquez, who led the team out as captain, made a decisive contribution to this.
And he immediately made his mark on the game: after a long ball from Fede Valverde and a perfect assist from Vinicius Junior, the Spaniard scored after just 55 seconds. It was the fastest La Liga goal this season – and Real’s fastest since February 2018. Back then, Vazquez, of all people, had already made the Bernabeu tremble after just 47 seconds in the 5-2 win against Real Sociedad.
Real kept at it, but then seemed to spend too much time worrying about the referee. The supposed 2-0 was a long time coming, with Mbappé just offside after some fine vertical passes (22′). But the Frenchman was able to celebrate five minutes before half-time: after a one-two with Bellingham, Mbappé was unstoppable in the box and made it 2-0 (40′). For Mbappé, it was already his fifth La Liga goal in seven appearances.
Rodrygo increases without resistance
He was only one step away from a brace seconds before half-time after Tchouameni’s header (45.+1). Immediately after the break, the score was 3-0, because Alaves defended far too carelessly. Vazquez passed the ball to Rodrygo on the right, who accelerated without opposition and powerfully scored past Sivera from a tight angle (48′).
With an eye on the upcoming tasks, Real subsequently shifted down a few gears. But even at half-speed, they managed to maintain their comfortable lead. The home side almost extended it, but substitute Endrick only hit the crossbar (73′). Abde Rebbach squandered the best Alaves chance of the game when he curled the ball onto the right inside post (77.).
The game seemed to be over when Benavidez got the music back on: first he scored the 1:3 with the help of the inside post – and only a minute later he set up the 2:3 by Kike Garcia (85′, 86′). Suddenly the tension was back, Real threatened to squander the victory. In the end, however, it remained a deserved home win.
After the fifth competitive win in a row, Real face a tough test on Sunday. The away game at city rivals Atletico is coming up. On September 24, 2023, Real had suffered their last La Liga defeat at the same place (1-3) – a repeat of which Carlo Ancelotti does not want to see.
