With a late goal after a lackluster performance, Real Madrid found its way to victory and to the top of the Spanish league standings.
Lucas Vázquez scored with a header in stoppage-time and Madrid pulled off a 1-0 win on the road against Alaves to reclaim first place after Girona conceded a late equalizer in its 1-1 draw at Real Betis earlier on Thursday.
Madrid and Girona are tied on 45 points but Madrid was ahead on a tiebreaker. Defending champion Barcelona was third, seven points off the lead. The Catalan club edged last-place Almeria 3-2 at home on Wednesday.
Madrid got the late win despite playing with 10 men from the 54th minute after central defender Nacho Fernández was sent off with a straight red card for a hard foul.
“It was a complicated match, and with a player down everybody thought that maybe today we were going to lose,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “But this team finds energy out of nowhere. We held tough and in the end we got rewarded.”
Vázquez was left free inside the area to score the winner with a header after a well-placed corner-kick cross by Toni Kroos.
Alaves coach Luis García was livid by the bench after the goal, kicking objects, throwing his jacket, screaming and even grabbing a staff member by the jacket and shoving him back to his seat.
“We can’t let Lucas finish by himself like that,” he said afterward. “You can’t let the game slip away from you like that, against 10 men, in the final minutes.”
Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo, the leaders of Madrid’s attack this season, were kept in check during most of the match in a poor performance by Ancelotti’s team at Mendizorroza Stadium. Neither team was able to create many significant scoring chances.
Nacho was initially shown a yellow card after stepping on an opponent while going for the ball, but video review called the referee and it was determined the Madrid defender deserved a straight red card.
After Nacho was sent off, Ancelotti was forced to replace Luka Modric with midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni, who went into Nacho’s position in the middle of the defense.
Madrid has been playing with a squad depleted by injuries, especially in defense. Last Sunday, David Alaba became the third Madrid player to tear an anterior cruciate knee ligament. Éder Militão and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois also sustained the same type of injury.
Antonio Rüdiger started alongside Nacho in defense on Thursday.
Forward Rodrygo had to be helped off the field with another apparent injury in stoppage time, though Ancelotti later said the Brazil forward was just tired.
Madrid has conceded only 11 goals so far this season, the best mark among all Spanish league clubs. It is unbeaten in its last 17 games in all competitions.
