On the way to the Basque country of Alaves, coach Zinedine Zidane made a surprising decision when Alphonse Areola was chosen to stand in goal to replace Thibaut Courtois. In midfield, Casemiro is still alongside Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.
In addition, Gareth Bale returned to the starting lineup of the Royal team after 56 days. But despite playing away from the Bernabeu, the Welsh international was not the most notable factor in this match.
Meanwhile, the home team made 3 changes from the 2-0 win over Eibar last weekend to take the field with a 4-4-2 tactical formation. Their spirit is high thanks to 2 consecutive wins to 14th place in the rankings.
With home advantage at de Mendizorroza, Alaves entered the match confidently despite having to welcome second-placed Real Madrid. With a difficult style of play from the opponent's half, Alaves made it almost impossible for Real to launch the attack as desired. However, it did not take long for Real Madrid's high-class players to still have the right to control the ball to organize attacks. The first notable situation was the intervention of VAR to confirm that Aleix Vidal's yellow card was correct for a foul in the 7th minute.
3 minutes later, Real Madrid had the first home team threat, when Isco alarcon headed against the post. The Spanish midfielder had another shot in the 18th minute but the ball went over the bar.
After that, Real continuously increased the pressure on the opponent's half. The long passes into the penalty area by the white players always make the home team's defense difficult. In the 18th minute, Carvajal broke the offside trap to penetrate the Alaves penalty area before passing it to Isco to finish, but the shot of the former Malaga player sent the ball over the bar.
In the following period, Real still had good chances to open the scoring but Isco, Benzema, Casemiro did not finish successfully. The first half ended in a 0-0 draw.
Entering the second half, the situation on the field did not change much. The two teams are still competing to put pressure on the goal of Pacheco and Areola. In the 52nd minute, Real finally scored when captain Sergio Ramos rushed in to head the ball dangerously after Kroos' free kick. The German midfielder has a 6th chance to participate in Real Madrid's goals this season (3 goals, 3 assists), while Ramos has a third goal since the beginning of the season.
However, just over 10 minutes after scoring, Ramos became a culprit. His high wings during the dispute with Lucas Perez had to be exchanged for 1 yellow card and 1 11m. It was the Spanish striker who successfully equalized in the 65th minute.
However, Real Madrid at this time is different from the beginning of the season. The white vultures continued to press and just 4 minutes later, they took the lead. Goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco blocked Isco's header from close range but the ball bounced out and Dani Carvajal quickly pushed into the goal to make it 2-1 for Real.
In the remainder of the second half, Real took the initiative to hold the ball and minimized the balls threatening Areola's goal. 2-1 was the final result of this match.
After winning the match, Real temporarily overcame Barcelona to climb to the top in La Liga with 31 points. Barca dropped to 2nd place with 28 points but played 1 match less while Alaves ranked 13th with 18 points.
