In the early morning of September 25 (Vietnam time), Real Madrid hosted Alaves in round 7 of La Liga 2024-2025 with predictions for the next victory. In fact, they did it, but in a different way than expected.
When many fans in the Bernabau stadium were not yet seated, the home team scored. Vinicius Junior received a long pass from Federico Valverde, passed the away right-back, entered the penalty area and passed it back to Lucas Vazquez to score.
Vazquez - taking the captain's armband in his 250th La Liga match, scored the fastest goal in La Liga since the beginning of the season in the 300th match of coach Carlo Ancelotti.
This was also Real Madrid's fastest goal since Vazquez himself scored in the 49th second against Real Sociedad in February 2018.
The Italian strategist has launched a very strong lineup, despite Los Blancos still having a derby match with Atletico Madrid next Sunday. Maybe he doesn't want to think too much but needs to focus on each match, and so he needs his stars to stay in shape before the big match.
The veteran strategist's goal was achieved, because Vinicius, Kylian Mbappe, Rodrygo Goes and support from Jude Bellingham, Valverde created an overwhelming game, with 72% possession.
Mbappe put the ball into the visitors' net in the 22nd minute after a good combination between Bellingham and Vinicius but the French striker was offside. However, in the 40th minute, the "Ninja Turtle" also scored after another combination with Bellingham with a turn on the opponent's wing and a neat finish.
Right at the beginning of the second half, it was Rodrygo's turn to speak up with an attack on the right wing and a tricky shot, defeating goalkeeper Antonio Sivera.
With a gap of 3 goals and 3 points in hand, Ancelotti quickly adjusted personnel, giving key players an early break and giving young player Endrick about 20 minutes to play.
The 18-year-old immediately left his mark when he overcame two defenders who tried to hold on but failed, and finished. Unfortunately, the ball hit the goal.
Leading 3 goals but Real Madrid unexpectedly conceded 2 consecutive goals within 1 minute (85, 86), making the final stage quite worried.
The score of 3-2 was kept unchanged, Real Madrid extended their unbeaten streak in La Liga to 39 matches and got 3 more points to temporarily shorten the gap with Barcelona to 1 point. However, there are still warnings for the Royal team.
Mbappe scoring in 4 consecutive matches is clearly good news as well as the best preparation for the derby as well as affirming the effective addition. But perhaps many people will have the feeling that, to successfully defend the La Liga and Champions League titles, Los Blancos will have to rely heavily on their defense.
Thibaut Courtois has made many saves since the beginning of the season, the post and crossbar have also defended them a few times - or to be exact, luck has accompanied them.
Maybe, this season, Real Madrid cannot compete with Barcelona in terms of goals in La Liga or Bayern Munich in the Champions League, so in addition to Mbappe and the strikers scoring, Ancelotti needs to refine the defense.
