Real Madrid: 3 keys to victory against Alaves on LaLiga’s Matchday 1

The wait is finally over. The 2021-2022 LaLiga season begins this weekend. In the very first game, Real Madrid travel to the Mendizorroza to face Deportivo Alaves. Alaves is a kind of opponent against whom Los Blancos would be favored to win. The Royal White club, however, isn’t in the best of physical shapes and in fact, could miss as many as six players on La Liga’s opening day.

Carlo Ancelotti will thus have to start several second-choice players and this match would be his safest bet. He needs his starters in full form before the matches against Levante and Real Betis. However, even with a starting line-up missing few crucial names Real Madrid would be expected to make a winning start to their campaigns. Here are three keys to abide by to assure that victory.

1. Gareth Bale needs to capitalize on his Real Madrid return

Real Madrid’s attack has been an aspect of their play under continuous scrutiny ever since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus. Last season, it transformed into a single-man show with Karim Benzema being the only goal-threat. This season though, with the return of Gareth Bale from his loan spell with Tottenham, fans expect the situations to change.

The role of Gareth Bale becomes yet more important since Karim Benzema is one of those players that MARCA reports who could miss the opening game. He had contracted the COVID virus and though he has returned to training there are questions upon his match-fitness. That makes Bale the senior-most attacker and playing under a familiar head coach, a lot will be expected out of the Welshman.

He looked particularly sharp in the friendly against AC Milan. He was finding pockets of space and he controlled a pass from Luka Jovic brilliantly well with his first touch that led to a scoring chance and then a penalty. He missed the penalty but the positive here is that he was creating chances for himself and others. In the league, situations will be much more urgent and with the ton of experience that he has, he would be expected to be the difference on the pitch in Benzema’s absence.