Real Madrid racked up another three points with a 3-2 home La Liga victory over Deportivo Alaves, but despite a blistering start it ended up being a worrying night for Carlo Ancelotti’s side — on many counts.
It was all looking so straightforward. When Rodrygo burst clear of his marker and fired in a low drive to make it 3-0 in the 48th minute, Madrid were cruising confidently to what seemed like being an easy win in the build-up to one of their season’s biggest games, when they travel to Atletico Madrid on Sunday.
In the end, the points were eventually wrapped up in a bitter and frenetic atmosphere after Alaves grabbed two late goals following sloppy Madrid play, while there was a potential injury to Kylian Mbappe.
“The team has sinned in their arrogance,” said one dressing source of Madrid’s performance (speaking anonymously to protect their position, like all those cited here). “It was a huge shame.”
The night had started so well. Before the game kicked off, one image captured everyone’s attention up on the Bernabeu’s giant screens — Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe sitting on the stairs of the tunnel chatting as if they were in the living room at home. When Lucas Vazquez fired in an opener from Vinicius Jr’s cut-back there were 54 seconds on the clock.
Vinicius Jr’s name brought huge cheers when the Madrid line-up was announced. At the club they think he should win the Ballon d’Or this year. Despite some in the Spanish media claiming he has not performed to his usual stellar standards so far this season, he has already been involved in nine goals (scoring three, providing six assists) in nine games in all competitions.
“Vinicius surpasses everyone, but not just us, he does it in the Champions League,” Alaves coach Luis Garcia Plaza said.
For 2-0, Jude Bellingham and Mbappe combined brilliantly. The Frenchman found Bellingham with a back-heel pass and off he sped. The Englishman returned the ball on the edge of the box and Mbappe did the rest with a drop of the shoulder and a sharp finish past the ‘keeper. It was the perfect ending to a 26-pass move — the longest combination for a La Liga goal so far this season. Mbappe now has seven goals from nine matches, as well as one assist.
“The first half was good, football-wise we are making progress,” said a coaching staff source of the opening 45 minutes.
After Rodrygo’s turn to shine, Madrid were speeding towards their 39th consecutive game without defeat in Spain’s top flight. Barcelona hold the record with 43, across 2016-17 and 2017-2018. Madrid’s previous La Liga loss was 3-1 at Atletico in late September last season.
Ancelotti and Mbappe after the Frenchman was taken off (Javier Soriano/AFP via Getty Images)
There was another key milestone: Tuesday’s game was Ancelotti’s 300th on the Real Madrid bench (across his two spells at the club). Endrick was brought on and almost added a fourth when his powerful deflected shot cannoned back off the post. It looked like a perfect night. Then things began to fall apart.
In the 80th minute, Ancelotti took off Mbappe and Eder Militao to bring on Arda Guler and Jesus Vallejo. Fans had been chanting for the latter to come on for his first appearance of the season.
The Italian coach moved closer to his striker as he came off the pitch, checking he was OK, setting off alarm bells. There had been speculation that Mbappe would be rotated for this game, but he remained alongside Federico Valverde as the only outfield player to have started every match this term so far.
“He’s fine, he’s fine, a little bit loaded,” Ancelotti said at his post-match press conference. “He asked me to change him to avoid problems.”
However, there are concerns Mbappe might have suffered a thigh injury and he will undergo tests today (Wednesday). He is now a real doubt for the key game against Atletico.
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Within two minutes of those substitutions, Endrick lashed out at Alaves defender Santiago Mourino and somehow escaped being shown a red card. Two minutes later again, the away side got one back, Mourino’s fellow Uruguayan Carlos Benavidez curling home from outside the box.
That opportunity came from a loose Lucas Vazquez pass playing out from the back. Just one minute later, a rusty-looking Vallejo was bypassed by a ball over the top for 34-year-old ex-Middlesbrough striker Kike Garcia, who provided a fine finish. Madrid’s mood and outlook was now entirely changed. Sources in the coaching staff admitted they had not managed the changes well, including the popular acclaim for Vallejo.
Before the goals, academy centre-back Jacobo Ramon was set to make his senior debut, but Ancelotti preferred to bring in left-back Fran Garcia for Vinicius Jr in stoppage time instead. Before that, the Brazilian might have been shown a yellow card for laughing at the fourth official when he saw there would be six further minutes.
On the touchline, Militao was remonstrating angrily with the referees. So was Ancelotti, who went into the centre of the pitch immediately after the final whistle to speak to the match officials.
Ancelotti on the Madrid touchline on Tuesday night (Diego Souto/Getty Images)
“Fair or unfair, we have to adapt to the new rules,” the Italian said at his post-match press conference. He was referring to the number of yellow cards shown to his players since Spanish football’s refereeing committee announced there would be a clampdown on dissent and protest this term.
Madrid are the team with the most yellow cards in La Liga this season so far — and nine of their 16 have been shown for dissent. Over the entirety of 2023-24, Madrid had just 14 yellow cards for dissent, and at this stage of that campaign the team only had two.
Fans chanted anti-Spanish FA songs in the stands, while Real Madrid’s official TV channel after the game referred to “trash refereeing”. There was outrage that four yellow cards were shown for seven fouls, while no Alaves player was booked despite the away side making 10 fouls.
However, in the Madrid dressing room they did not want to think about that. The focus was on the tests for Mbappe and the big meeting with Atletico.
“Mentally we can’t relax like this (again), because the next one we will pay for it,” one source said. “It’s a good warning for Sunday.”
(Top photo: Javier Soriano/AFP via Getty Images)
