Real Madrid Beats Alaves 2-1, Narrows Barcelona Lead to Six Points

Real Madrid secured a 2-1 victory over Alaves on Tuesday at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, ending a four-game winless streak and narrowing the gap to La Liga leaders Barcelona to six points. The win, Real Madrid's first since their Champions League quarterfinal exit to Bayern Munich, came courtesy of goals from Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior, though a late strike by Alaves' Toni Martinez prevented a clean sheet.

The match began slowly for the home side, with Alaves creating early chances, including a stinging drive from Martinez that forced a save from goalkeeper Andriy Lunin. Fans at the Bernabeu grew anxious, jeering the team during a sluggish opening period. Mbappe broke the deadlock in the 30th minute, his shot from the edge of the box deflecting off defender Jonny and wrong-footing Alaves goalkeeper Antonio Sivera. It marked the end of Mbappe's eight-game scoring drought across all competitions and his first league goal since February; he now leads La Liga with 24 goals this season.

Vinicius Junior doubled the lead in the 50th minute with a powerful long-range strike into the bottom-left corner, his 12th league goal of the campaign and first in six games for club and...