Deportivo Alaves vs Real Madrid: Match preview | OneFootball

Real Madrid face Deportivo Alaves at the Estadio de Mendizorroza on matchday 31 of La Liga on Sunday, April 13th.

The Whites will look to get back to winning ways after two straight losses in all competitions before turning their attention to the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Arsenal on Wednesday.

The game is especially important for them as they will hope to pick up three important points in the Spanish top division and remain hot on Barcelona’s heels in the final run-in to the title.

Carlo Ancelotti is suspended for the match due to an accumulation of yellow cards, so his assistant manager and son Davide Ancelotti is expected to lead proceedings.

The Whites have been bolstered by Dani Ceballos’ return to the squad after he trained with the team over the week having recovered from an injury.

Andriy Lunin, Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao and Ferland Mendy remain sidelined due to fitness problems, however.

Ceballos is unlikely to start the game given that he missed the better part of the last two months but could have some minutes off the bench with a nod from the word go likely against Arsenal.

Real Madrid need to be more efficient in attack after a couple of wasteful displays, while defensively there is a lot to improve on for them as well given that 11 goals have been conceded in the last four fixtures in all competitions.

Alaves, on the other hand, come into the game with two wins in their last three matches. They will be without Antonio Sivera, Jon Guridi and Tomas Conechny, who are all suspended against Real Madrid.

Kike Garcia is set for a call-up though. The 35-year-old is going strong in spite of his age and leads the scoring charts for Alaves with 11 goals to his name in La Liga although Madrid’s hosts for Sunday continue to battle relegation as they languish in 17th place in the table.

Real Madrid are on a six-game winning run against Alaves in La Liga and won the reverse fixture earlier this season by a 3-2 margin at home, courtesy of Lucas Vazquez, Kylian Mbappe and Rodrygo Goes getting on the scoresheet.

Another battle awaits Los Merengues in the hunt for the league title and one which they must win to have any hopes of trumping Barca to the championship.