Real Madrid 3 – 0 Alavés: Three Takeaways From the La Liga Match

In a somewhat flattering scoreline, Real Madrid put three past Deportivo Alavés at the Santiago Bernabéu to maintain their lead atop the La Liga table. Alex McVey reviews the match with three quick takeaways.

A Tale of Two Halves

Real Madrid were dominant in the first half, producing some of the most fluid and coherent attacking football we’ve seen from the club in a while. Ronaldo looked fierce and competitive, moving well with and without the ball.

There was some excellent overlapping play on the wings as well by the full backs, Dani Carvajal and Danilo. And despite a questionable decision to keep the flag down, Benzema’s smart team play with Carvajal produced the first goal.

Madrid looked fully in command by the time the whistle blew for half time.

Real Madrid, however, failed to keep up this intensity for the full 90 minutes. Despite the fact that two more goals came near the end of the match, Madrid did not play as well in the second half.

Alavés had Real pinned back for much of the second half, and had it not been for an inability to connect on the final pass, Alavés seemed bound to equalize. Late goals from Isco in the 85^th minute and Nacho in the 88^th minute made the score of 3-0 seem like more of a rout than it actually was.

As the xG Map above indicates, Alavés gave as much as they received this match, and probably deserved much more.  As I wrote in my match preview, this was always going to be a tough match for Real Madrid.

Alavés lived up to the expectations, and Los Blancos were lucky to make it out with all three points in hand, securing their place at the top of the La Liga table.