Real Madrid 3-2 Alaves: Los Blancos seal victory at home as Mbappe & Rodrygo net

It was another successful evening for Real Madrid on Tuesday, but only just in the end. They had been on course for a comfortable victory over Alaves at the Santiago Bernabeu, but late goals ended up making it very nervy.

Rather surprisingly, Carlo Ancelotti named a full-strength line-up for the match, despite the Madrid derby against Atletico Madrid being this weekend. Nevertheless, it paid dividends inside the opening minute as stand-in captain Lucas Vazquez fired home following a Vinicius Junior cutback.

Kylian Mbappe would make it 2-0 inside the first half, and it was his best goal in a Real Madrid shirt so far. He exchanged passes with Jude Bellingham before slicing through the Alaves defence and ultimately finishing beyond the hapless Antonio Sivera.

Into the second half, it was another fine solo goal for Real Madrid’s third of the evening. Rodrygo Goes collected the ball midway inside the Alaves half, and he drove brilliantly into the penalty area before firing through Sivera’s legs from a tight angle.

Real Madrid were easing to victory at that stage, but after taking off Eder Militao for Jesus Vallejo, they suddenly fell apart. Firstly, Carlos Protesoni ended Los Blancos’ hopes of a clean sheet, and two minutes later, he was joined on the scoresheet by Kike Garcia. That made it very tense at the Bernabeu, but the hosts were able to hang on.

The result sees Real Madrid move back to within one point of Barcelona, who play their MD7 fixture against Getafe on Wednesday.

Matheus Nunes' first Manchester City goal proved the difference as Pep Guardiola's team beat Watford 2-1 to progress to the EFL Cup fourth round.

Match Report

Jeremy Doku and Matheus Nunes net as Pep Guardiola's side advance to Carabao Cup fourth round.

Tom Ince set up a nervy ending for the hosts at the Etihad Stadium, but Championship side Watford could not find a late equaliser to force a penalty shootout.

City got off to a quick start, helped by Ryan Porteous' loose backpass, as James McAtee pounced before Jack Grealish teed up Jeremy Doku for a pinpoint finish into the bottom corner after five minutes.

Kwadwo Baah thought he had equalised in the 21st minute, drilling his low shot into the far post, but he was penalised for a foul on debutant Kaden Braithwaite.

Rico Lewis then opened up Watford's defence with a driving run before laying it off to Nunes, whose low effort crept past Jonathan Bond to double City's lead before the break.

Ince cleared Savinho's effort off the line before the Brazilian also struck the inside of the post as City searched for a second, while Bond made impressive stops to deny Nunes and Grealish.

Yet it was Watford who struck next - Ince bending a lovely finish beyond Stefan Ortega, but the visitors failed to test City again after that.

Data Debrief: No end to the City hoodoo for Watford

It has been a while since these two sides last met following Watford's relegation from the Premier League, but City always enjoy facing them.

They have now won each of their last 16 matches against Watford in all competitions by an aggregate score of 60-9, while they have also been responsible for the Hornets' last seven domestic cup exits.

It was another dominant performance for the hosts, who had 24 shots overall, getting eight of those on target as they created an expected goals of 1.98 compared to Watford's 0.46.