{"id":48737,"date":"2026-04-22T15:04:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=48737"},"modified":"2026-04-22T15:04:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:04:34","slug":"mbappe-on-the-mark-as-real-madrid-sink-alaves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=48737","title":{"rendered":"Mbappe on the mark as Real Madrid sink Alaves"},"content":{"rendered":"
Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior scored as Real Madrid beat Alaves 2-1 on Tuesday to cling on to their slim hopes of catching Barcelona in La Liga.
\nMbappe struck his league-leading 24th goal, but first since early February, with a deflected shot on the half hour at the Santiago Bernabeu.
\nVinicius lashed in a second from distance early in the second half, which proved crucial as Alaves pulled a goal back in stoppage time through Toni Martinez.
\nThe victory ended a two-match winless run in La Liga for Madrid and moved them back to within six points of leaders Barcelona, who host Celta Vigo on Wednesday.
\n“We have six matches coming up, the next one in three days. The aim is to win those matches \u2013 that’s the goal we’ve set ourselves as a team,” said Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa, whose position is under increasing scrutiny.
\n“I don’t care much about what’s at stake for me personally. What matters to me is what’s at stake for Real Madrid.”
\nMadrid are staring down the barrel of a second consecutive season without a major trophy following last week’s Champions League quarter-final exit at the hands of Bayern Munich.
\nMbappe scored in both legs of that 6-4 aggregate defeat but a barren patch in La Liga, in part because of a knee injury, coincided with arch-rivals Barcelona streaking clear at the top.
\nMadrid faced early pressure from relegation-threatened Alaves, who were unbeaten in four matches.
\nAngel Perez broke in behind the home defence before strangely opting to pass instead of shooting with just Andriy Lunin blocking his path to goal. Martinez then tested the Real ‘keeper after finding a pocket of space.
\nMbappe put Madrid ahead when his effort from just outside the box clipped a defender and wrong-footed Antonio Sivera.
\nThe France captain then had an attempt beaten away by Sivera and Eder Militao clipped the crossbar, injuring himself in the process and having to go off before the break.
\nMartinez nearly levelled for Alaves when he poked a cross against the post, with his follow-up strike clawed out by Lunin.
\nVinicius hammered in from 25 yards to give Madrid breathing space, and Brahim Diaz was denied by a brilliant headed clearance off the goalline.
\nAlaves continued to toil away as Victor Parada’s diving header hit the upright. Martinez netted a consolation with an inventive flick in stoppage time before loud jeers greeted the final whistle in Madrid.
\nElsewhere, Real Betis came from behind to triumph 3-2 at Girona as Rodrigo Riquelme bagged the winner 10 minutes from time.
\nGorka Guruzeta’s first-half goal lifted Athletic Bilbao to a 1-0 home win over Osasuna, while Mallorca and Valencia drew 1-1.\u00a0<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior scored as Real Madrid beat Alaves 2-1 on Tuesday to cling on to their slim hopes of catching Barcelona in La Liga. Mbappe struck his league-leading 24th goal, but first since early February, with a deflected shot on the half hour at the Santiago Bernabeu. Vinicius lashed in a second […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48737\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}