Real Madrid lost star striker Kylian Mbappe to a first-half red card, but held on to beat Deportivo Alavés 1-0 at the Estadio Mendizorrotza, duly ending a run of three winless matches in all competitions and keeping the LaLiga title race alive.
The 17th-placed home side began on the front foot, looking to worsen Real’s poor pre-match away form, which had seen them take one win in their last four games on the road, but they failed to create a clear opportunity.
Los Blancos grew into the game though, and after Rodrygo dribbled into the box and forced a save from Jesus Owono, the resulting corner was met by Raul Asencio.
However, he was denied a first senior goal, owing to a foul on the goalkeeper by Antonio Rudiger.
Los Babazorros were not deterred from venturing forward, but found themselves lacking in front of goal – Kike García was particularly wasteful when given time to turn and shoot inside the box, sending his effort over.
Almost inevitably, they were made to pay in the 34th minute, when Eduardo Camavinga combined neatly with Arda Guuler in the middle, before the Frenchman sent a delightful curling effort past Owono from over 20 yards out.
But Madrid smiles were wiped away just five minutes later, when a dreadful challenge by Mbappé on Antonio Blanco saw the striker given a straight red card after a VAR review.
Attempting to make their man advantage count, Eduardo Coudet’s men made a bright start to the second half. Yet, though García sent a header wide and both Carlos Vicente and substitute Toni Martínez forced routine saves from Thibaut Courtois, the visitors’ lead seldom looked threatened heading into the final quarter of the match.
And in another twist, Alaves’ man advantage was no more come the 70-minute mark, when Vinicius Junior chased a ball over the top and was caught clumsily by Manu Sanchez.
VAR was called into action once more and came to the same conclusion, sending the hosts’ Madrid-born defender off.
That did little to increase the attacking output from Carlo Ancelotti’s side, who never looked like scoring a second until Jude Bellingham forced a fine save from Owono in the 89th minute, but the Blancos had already done enough to ensure they did not lose further ground to table-topping Barcelona.
Meanwhile, Alaves can take encouragement from this display, with their fate still in their own hands after just a second loss in six LaLiga outings.
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