A match in the 18th round of La Liga was played in the early morning of December 22, Beijing time, and Alaves hosted Real Madrid. In the first half, Real Madrid failed to score despite a number of attacks, with Valverde being their main attacking threat.
In the second half, Nacho was sent off for stomping on an opponent, leaving Real Madrid with one man less. Vázquez scored a goal in stoppage time to help Real Madrid beat Alaves 1-0.
Last season, Real Madrid failed to successfully defend their title, and this season, while competing with Barcelona for the title, Girona unexpectedly appeared as a super dark horse, which was unexpected for coach Carlo Ancelotti.
In the current standings, Real Madrid is gradually widening the gap with Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, two title rivals, but Girona is ahead of Real Madrid in the standings, which puts a lot of pressure on Real Madrid.
In this round, Real Madrid took on Alaves away, while Alaves suffered a 3-0 defeat away to Girona in the previous round.
In the game's recap, Valverde's volley from a tight angle in the box in the second minute was blocked by the goalkeeper, while Alaves created a threatening shot in the eighth minute, but it was narrowly blocked by Fran Garcia in the box.
In the 37th minute, Valverde took a long-range shot from the edge of the box, but the goalkeeper flew to save the ball.
In the 54th minute, Nacho brought down the opponent, and after the referee reviewed it through the VAR review, it was determined that Nacho stepped on the opponent's ankle, cancelled the yellow card, and sent Nacho off with a red card. In the 75th minute, Rodrygo cut inside on the left and fired a shot that grazed the post.
In the 92nd minute, Kroos took a corner kick and Vazquez scored with a header to help Real Madrid complete the 1-0 stunner. At full-time, Real Madrid won 1-0 against Alaves.
Statistics show that Real Madrid had 60% possession throughout the game, but only had nine shots on goal, four of which were on target, and almost dropped points in the game.
Fortunately, with one man less, Real Madrid relied on Vazquez's stoppage time goal to finally beat Alaves to victory.
The victory took Real Madrid's tally of 45 points, level with Girona, but returned to the top of the table on goal difference and opened up a seven-point gap to defending champions Barcelona.
In an earlier game, leaders Girona were held to a 1-1 draw away at Betis, going from three points to one.
After 18 rounds of matches, Girona have 45 points and a three-point lead with one more game in hand, which gives Real Madrid a chance to return to the top of the table, with just one win away.
In the end, Real Madrid managed to get a victory in this game, although it was thrilling, and overtook Girona to regain the top spot in La Liga.