Mendizorroza Stadium was the place in which Real Madrid visited Deportivo Alaves in another La Liga match. We got the player ratings.
Real Madrid needed to get a victory against Alaves after last week’s shameful Copa del Rey elimination against Alcoyano. With Zinedine Zidane currently in quarantine due to his recent Covid-19 diagnosis, Andrea Bettoni was the man in charge tonight. The assistant manager kept the plan to maintain Eden Hazard on the pitch despite his recent poor performances.
Eventually, they expected him to deliver a good performance with the increased activity. Tonight was the night in which the Belgian star finally responded with a stellar first-half performance. Alongside him, the midfield trio also delivered an impressive display. Casemiro scored the opening goal after a corner-kick assist from Toni Kroos. Then came Hazard’s show with a “dummy” assist to Benzema and a fantastic goal before the break.
Bettoni takes Hazard off early.
Despite his stellar performance, Eden Hazard is fresh out of an injury and the Real Madrid staff is trying to take care of him. Within 15 minutes into the second half, Bettoni decided to replace him with Vinicius. It was evident the Belgian player wanted to remain on the pitch but he needed to follow orders.
The final thirty minutes of the match brought us a goal from Joselu during a set-piece. However, Karim Benzema closed the game with a fantastic solo goal after a long pass from Luke Modric. A great way to recover from last week’s shameful elimination was tonight’s victory against Alaves. Zinedine Zidane can rest easy knowing his squad is still fighting for La Liga.
Player ratings
Deportivo Alaves: Pacheco (5), Laguardia (5), Lejeune (5), Navarro (5), Duarte (5), Aguirregabiria (6), Mendez (6), Pina (6), Battaglia (5), Joselu (6), Rioja (5).
Bench: Sainz (6), Perez (5), Garcia (5), Pons (5), Deyverson (5).
Real Madrid: Courtois (7), Mendy (7), Militao (7), Varane (7), Lucas (7), Casemiro (8), Modric (8), Kroos (8), Hazard (8), Asensio (7), Benzema (9).
Bench: Vinicius (6), Odriozola (6), Isco (4).
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