Ronaldo fires blank in crucial Madrid 3-0 win

Real Madrid retained their position at the summit of La Liga with a 2-0 win over Alaves on Sunday evening.

Karim Benzema scored the opening goal in the first half, before Isco and Nacho made victory certain late on in the second half but Los Blancos had to survive a few scares as Alaves threatened to spoil the party for them with some good chances of their own, but in the end, it was Real who triumphed.

Real, as expected, began by dominating play and exchanging passes in between the lines as Alaves tried to maintain shape and restrict the leaders.  But all their domination notwithstanding, Los Blancos were yet to create any real opportunities and in the 17th minute, Gareth Bale’s free-kick was whiskers away from hitting the target, but it was off.

But the first real chance would come in the 27th minute, when Cristiano Ronaldo went past the Alaves defence with so much ease, and found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but his effort towards the bottom corner was nicely saved by the visitors’ goalie.

It was a different story four minutes later, however, as Real went in front after some good work by Dani Cavarhal put Benzema through, for the France striker to slot in past the Alaves goalkeeper, and Los Blancos were off the mark, 1-0!

Real kept dominating, but like the early parts of the match, very little was being made of their possession, with the only real chance coming in the first minute of stoppage time, Bale with the effort but nothing would come off it as both sides went into the break with Real’s slim lead.

Just like the first, Real began the second period by dominating, but there were very little by way of chances created, as Alaves looked perfectly comfortable conceding possession to their more illustrious hosts.

The Real players were beginning to look desperate at this point despite their lead, with their visitors giving them very little opportunities to carve open their defence line. Ronaldo and Bale were trying to run the rings in the opposing side’s defence, but very little success was achieved there.

But in the 60th minute, Alaves went close through Edger Mendez. What a great opportunity it was for them inside the Real penalty area, but the ball was blasted off target in what was a rare opportunity for the visitors.

And 10 minutes later, Real Madrid was given a scare once again when Manu Garcia connected a cross from a free-kick inside Los Blancos’ area, but the header went narrowly wide and off target in what should have been a goal and Alaves should have had a 2-1 advantage at this point, but have somehow missed two glorious opportunities in the last 10 minutes.

The visitors would go on to regret those misses as Real kept on and kept it tight at the back, and made victory safe as Isco put the ball in the back of the net off a Ronaldo assist just moments before the end of regulation time, with Nacho completing the win moments later.