Real Madrid is back in LaLiga today against Alavés, trying to steady itself after last Wednesday’s 4-3 loss to Bayern Múnich in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals. The match comes with Madrid nine points behind FC Barcelona and still needing a response after a week that has tested the limits of a squad built to chase every front.
There are three absences for Carlo Ancelotti’s side — Raúl Asencio, Thibaut Courtois and Rodrygo — but the expected shape points to a 4-4-2 with Andriy Lunin in goal; Ferland Mendy, Antonio Rüdiger, Éder Militão and Trent Alexander-Arnold across the back; Arda Güler, Federico Valverde, Jude Bellingham and Brahim Diaz in midfield; and Vinicius alongside Kylian Mbappe up front. Madrid beat Atlético de Madrid 3-2 on 2026-03-22, but the defeat to Bayern has put a harder edge on every remaining league match.
That is the weight of today for Madrid: the Champions League is gone, so the title race in Spain is the only place left to turn the season back toward control. The source around the team says Real Madrid has not been giving guarantees in football despite its strong squad, and the numbers reflect that tension. Nine points is a long chase at this stage, especially for a club used to forcing its own momentum.
Alavés has its own urgency. Quique Sánchez Flores’ side is one point above the relegation zone, and it arrives after beating Celta de Vigo 4-3 at Balaídos in an away match that showed both its edge and its fragility. That result gave the club room to breathe, but not much more than that, and a home match against Madrid is the kind of fixture that can quickly turn relief back into pressure.
The contradiction in this game is obvious. Madrid brings the stronger squad and the bigger names, yet it is the team under the sharper scrutiny after failing to turn European quality into certainty. Alavés has far less margin for error, but it has already shown it can survive a chaotic game and leave with points. If Madrid does not settle the match early, the burden of proving itself will sit on the visitors again.
For Madrid, this is no longer just about picking up three points. It is about showing that the Bayern defeat did not drain the season’s final stretch, and that the gap to Barcelona is still alive in practical terms rather than only in theory.