Moderate whistles at Santiago Bernabeu greet narrow Real Madrid victory over Alaves

When Mbappe opened the scoring after 32 minutes, he almost looked sheepish at how fortunate his deflected shot from 30 yards had been, completely wrongfooting Antonio Sivera. Arguably Real Madrid’s best spell of the game followed, with Alaves struggling to cope with the pace of the attacks. Mbappe spurned their first clear opening in the box, failing to connect sweetly with a Vinicius cross 10 minutes later. Eder Militao seemed set to get in on the act just before half-time, with a looping effort onto the bar, but it turned out to be the sour note of the night, the Brazilian limping off to be replaced by Antonio Rudiger just before the break. Mbappe also tried to lob Sivera from 40 yards, which did not impress the Bernabeu either.

Alaves galvanised themselves though, and before the break, an attack down the left saw Toni Martinez crash a shot on the run off the post. A second dangerous attack, another ball in from Perez, found Lucas Boye and Lunin had to parry away, provoking one or two more whistles as the two sides walked off for half-time.

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Alaves made to rue missed chances after Vinicius stunner

There were few qualms to be had with Vinicius five minutes into the second half. Just as in the first goal, Vinicius was fed the ball in the inside left channel, this time by Fede Valverde. Albeit a little further out. He jinked inside, and fired into the same corner, this one a clean, ferocious strike. Rather than celebrate, he lifted his arms in apology to the fans.

That did indicate the descent in intensity from Real Madrid, who retained control for the 15 minutes afterwards, and might have added to their tally. Dani Carvajal played a stunning ball across the box, but Sivera and the Alaves defence did just enough to thwart Vinicius. Aurelien Tchouameni also forced an excellent save from Sivera from a corner, before Brahim Diaz shot his arms to his head in disbelief, after his effort, destined for the top corner, was cleared off the line by Nahuel Tenaglia.

To their credit none of this took the spirit out of Alaves. With Alvaro Arbeloa ringing the changes, and Real Madrid lowering the tempo, Los Babazorros needed no second invitation to come forward. Martinez thumped an effort at Lunin, Victor Parada flicked a headder onto the post, and Carles Alena was one of several Alaves midfielders to see their shots deflected wide. The final 15 minutes of the game were spent largely in the Real Madrid box, as Alaves desperately sought a way back into the game.

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It is true that there was little tension in the Bernabeu, or the Real Madrid players by that point, but Alaves will no doubt be wondering what might have happened had they got their goal earlier. In stoppage time, after Real Madrid again could not clear their lines, an Ander Guevara shot was deflected in by Martinez. They could not launch a final throw of the dice in the remaining minute.

That certainly provided fuel for those inclined to whistle Real Madrid after the referee’s last blast of his own instrument though. Los Blancos did enough to win the game, and at no point did it feel like there was great jeopardy after Vinicius’ goal. Yet there was no escaping the fact that Alaves had the chances to cause more problems, were they wont to take them. Neither was it a performance reminiscent of their Champions League showings, a point of criticism locally.

Nevertheless, they did what they had to in order to at least temporarily reduce the gap to Barcelona down to six points. Quique Sanchez Flores will lament the fact his side’s valiant efforts were not rewarded with a point, especially when he looks at the table and finds his side just a point above the bottom three, with all of them still to play this round.