Real Madrid survived a late scare as goals by Lucas Vazquez, Kylian Mbappé and Rodrygo gave them a 3-2 home win over Alavés in LaLiga on Tuesday.
Carlos Benavidez and Kike Garcia scored in the 88th and 89th minutes for Alavés, but Madrid held on to win a match they had mostly dominated.
Madrid are second in the LaLiga standings on 17 points, one behind leaders Barcelona, who have a game in hand and host second from bottom Getafe on Wednesday.
The hosts opened the scoring a little over a minute after kickoff when Vinicius Junior took a long Federico Valverde pass in his stride and ran up the left channel before setting up full-back Vazquez who fired home from close range.
The champions produced a commanding performance after a bumpy start to the season, with Vinicius, Mbappé, who scored in his fifth-straight game, and Bellingham a constant threat to their rivals.
Mbappé fired into the back of the net in the 22nd minute, but his goal was ruled out for being offside.
Real Madrid players celebrate after scoring a goal against Alaves in LaLiga.
Madrid kept dominating the action throughout the first half and extended their lead in the 40th minute when Mbappé played a neat one-two with Bellingham before cutting inside and slotting a tidy finish to the right of the goalkeeper.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side looked to be heading for a comfortable win when Rodrygo scored their third three minutes after the break, firing a low shot under the goalkeeper’s legs to finish off a quick counter-attack.
Both Benavidez and Garcia capitalised on some poor defending to get Alavés back in the contest, but their comeback came too late to prevent Madrid taking all three points.
“It’s a shame that, with the performance that we were putting throughout the match it had to finish the way that it did,” captain Vazquez told Real Madrid TV. “We were happy with the win because we played a great game until the 88th minute, when two lapses in concentration led to two goals and we had to suffer a bit more than we should have.
“We didn’t deserve this ending, with the game we had played, but let’s look on the bright side: we did a lot of things right.”
