Real Madrid remain firmly in the La Liga title after Eduardo Camavinga’s first half goal secured a 1-0 win at Deportivo Alaves in a match that saw both sides reduced to 10 men, with Kylian Mbappe getting sent off.
Carlo Ancelotti left Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham on the bench, with an eye on their UEFA Champions League return match against Arsenal as they look to overturn a 3-0 first-leg deficit on Wednesday.
Regardless, Real got off to a promising start and thought they had taken the lead after defender Raul Asencio struck early, but a VAR review ruled that there was a foul in the build-up to the goal.
The visitors then enjoyed a mixed few minutes of high and low as Mbappe was shown a straight red card in the 38th minute by Cesar Soto Grado for a foul on Alaves’ Blanco to overshadow Camavinga putting Real ahead with a curling left-footed strike just four minutes earlier.
Mbappe was initially shown a yellow card for catching Antonio Blanco high on the shin with a late challenge, but it was upgraded to red after the video assistant referee (VAR) invited the referee to watch the incident again on the pitch-side monitor.
It was Mbappe’s first red card of his Real Madrid career and also a first dismissal since April 2019, meaning the Frenchman will miss Real’s home fixture against Athletic Bilbao next Sunday.
Ancelotti later introduced Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham in a bid to kill off the hosts, but they could only muster one shot on target in the second half compared to Alaves’ five.
Alaves went down to 10 men with 20 minutes to go when Manu Sanchez saw red after VAR review for a foul on Vinicius Jr., with the referee overturning the initial yellow card awarded to send off the Alaves man after the review.
The result puts Real Madrid on 66 points after 31 games played, four points behind league leaders Barcelona and six points ahead of city rivals, Atletico, who play Real Valladolid on Monday night.