Kylian Mbappé’s reckless foul left Real Madrid with a nervy second half before they saw out a 1-0 win at relegation-threatened Alavés, who also finished the match with 10 men.
Eduardo Camavinga gave Real the lead in the 34th minute, scoring from outside the box with a brilliant curled shot, after an earlier goal by Raúl Asencio was ruled out following a video assistant referee check.
Mbappé’s violent tackle on the Alavés midfielder Antonio Blanco left Real a man down before half-time. He watched from the stands as Real were managed by his son and assistant coach, Davide Ancelotti.
With the Spain coach, Luis de la Fuente, present, the defender Asencio thought he put Real in front after 19 minutes, nodding home from a corner.
His goal was chalked off after a VAR review showed that Asencio supported himself on an Alavés defender when scoring, while Antonio Rüdiger knocked down the goalkeeper Jésus Owono seconds earlier.
Camavinga gave Real the lead 15 minutes later, scoring inside the left post after a smart one-two with Federico Valverde. I think that the many small fouls that were committed against him have made him react in this way, which is the wrong way to react. The 2-0 win against fifth-placed Bologna took Atalanta up to third, two points ahead of fourth-placed Juventus, with six matches left.
“When you win games of this calibre, it feels like it is worth double for the table,” Gasperini told DAZN. “We are satisfied … when you score that early, it puts you in a position to control the match.”
Gasperini praised the striker Mateo Retegui, who scored three minutes into the game and assisted in Mario Pasalic’s 21st-minute goal to steer Atalanta to victory. “I thought it was Retegui’s best performance of this year,” Gasperini said.
