Real Madrid face Deportivo Alavés desperate for their first win in April, after a punishing month that has left the club on the brink of a trophyless season.
Heartbreaking Champions League quarterfinals elimination to Bayern Munich came sandwiched between Los Blancos 2–1 defeat to Mallorca and 1–1 draw with Girona in La Liga. As a result, Álvaro Arbeloa’s side are now nine points adrift of league leaders Barcelona with just seven gameweeks still to play.
Barring an almighty collapse from their great rivals, Madrid look set to end the campaign without any major honors, ahead of a summer of introspection and—quite possibly—big changes.
Before that, though, Madrid must work on ending the season as strongly as possible and should, at the very least, make Barça work for their title.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday’s game, Arbeloa insisted Madrid still have “seven games to win”, starting with the visit of relegation-threatened Alavés.
Madrid’s season has been punctuated by sloppy league results, immediately following their European exploits. It has been the defining story of the second half of their domestic campaign under Arbeloa.
After Barcelona slipped up with defeat to Girona in February, Madrid—preoccupied by the Champions play-off against Benfica—responded with back-to back defeats to Osasuna and Getafe. Meanwhile, a dramatic 3–2 Madrid derby win last month and the chance to push on in La Liga was followed up by the disappointments of Mallorca and Girona.
With seven games remaining and Europe no longer a concern, Madrid need to be perfect to have any hope of catching Barça.
17th-placed Alavés are fighting for their lives in La Liga. They are unbeaten in their last four outings (scoring ten goals) under new head coach Quique Sánchez Flores and will not be pushovers.
La Liga Head-to-head record: Real Madrid have won their last eight previous meetings against Alavés. The visitors last victory over Los Blancos came at the Bernabéu in November 2020.
Real Madrid’s dreadful defensive record: Arbeloa’s side have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last seven matches, while stand-in keeper Andriy Lunin is yet to enjoy a shutout this season.
Alavés travel to the Bernabéu in rich scoring form—their last four games have produced a combined 22 goals.
Mbappé chasing the Pichichi: No player has scored more than Kylian Mbappé’s 23 in La Liga so far this season. He will be aiming to secure the first back-to-back Pichichi Trophy wins since Lionel Messi in 2021.
