The win over Deportivo Alaves by Real Madrid was very close, but not quite enough to catch Barcelona at the top of the La Liga table. Lucas Vazquez scored the first goal in just one minute. Kylian Mbappe and Rodrygo then made it 3-0. But Carlos Benavidez and Kike Garcia scored late goals that made the end rough. Carlo Ancelotti’s team has now won four league games in a row.

Deportivo Alaves did come back late, but Real Madrid held on for a tight win at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday night.

For 85 minutes, Alaves didn’t do anything. But in the 85th and 87th minutes, Carlos Benavidez and Kike Garcia scored two quick goals that made Carlo Ancelotti’s team nervous.

At that point, Madrid was already well ahead with a 3-0 lead. Lucas Vasquez scored the first goal less than a minute into the game, and Kylian Mbappe and Rodrygo scored goals either side of halftime to cap off a strong performance.

In the end, Real Madrid held on despite Alaves’ late comeback. They got their fifth La Liga win of the season and moved within a point of Barcelona ahead of Sunday’s important clash with Atletico Madrid.

Almost everything was great for Real that night. The best way to prepare for the game at the end of the week would have been to score three goals and not have much to worry about on defense. The players knew that too because they were peaceful and happy for most of the match.

Alaves was never going to be a threat because their last trip to the Bernabeu finished in a 5-0 loss. Real could pretty much take it easy after Vasquez scored in the first minute after Vinicius Jr. sent a pass across goal.

That early goal set the tone for a night of control, with flashes of skill from players like Vinicius and Bellingham. It was a night of calm and slow-paced dominance. The latter played great together with Mbappe all night.

The English and French players worked together twice to set up Mbappe’s goals, but the first one was called back for offside. And in the second, the Frenchman made a cross-chop pass to Bellingham. Bellingham held on to the ball for a moment before moving it perfectly into the box for his striker to score.

Goal three also came soon after the start of the second half, just like goal one. Alaves’ defense stepped up high, maybe to put some pressure on a Real team that was taking it easy. Rodrygo punished them for it. There was a lot of room for the Brazilian to go after Carlos Protesoni and Moussa Diarra. He did, and then he fired the ball through Antonio Sivera’s legs.

But it was clear that Alaves had kept all of their fight for the end, and Benavidez and Garcia took advantage of some bad defending to get their team back in the game and start six minutes of tense extra time in Madrid.

Real won in the end, but there were a lot of distractions and arguments between the players and the judges that made what should have been an easy win hard. With Atletico coming up, that doesn’t look good.