Real Madrid Faces Crucial Test Against Deportivo Alavés

Real Madrid’s season is on the brink, and the team sheet tells its own story.

Carlo Ancelotti must navigate a crucial home clash with Deportivo Alavés without several key pieces. Raúl Asencio misses out through illness, thinning Madrid’s attacking options at a time when goals and ideas are already under heavy scrutiny. The absences do not stop there. Thibaut Courtois and Rodrygo remain sidelined, stripping Los Blancos of their first-choice goalkeeper and one of their most direct, explosive forwards.

It is a brutal combination for a side already reeling from a Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich and staring at the possibility of a second straight season without a trophy. Florentino Pérez has already branded that scenario “intolerable.” The injury list only tightens the screw.

Courtois’ continued unavailability keeps Madrid’s defensive line exposed, and the numbers underline the problem. They have conceded in eight consecutive LaLiga matches, their worst run since September 2019. Even so, the Bernabéu has largely held firm as a fortress: seven wins in their last nine home league games offer a measure of comfort, but not much margin for error.

Without Rodrygo, Madrid lose a runner who stretches defences, a player who can turn a tight game with one sharp movement or one clean strike. The responsibility shifts again onto the remaining forwards, who must find a way to spark an attack that has too often felt predictable when key figures are missing.

Alavés arrive with their own issues, but not in the treatment room. Forward Abderrahman Rebbach is suspended, depriving them of a useful attacking option as they fight to stay clear of the drop. They come into the match on a four-game unbeaten run in La Liga, yet sit just a single point above 18th-placed Elche. Every selection call, every absence, carries weight.

So Madrid walk into this one wounded, both in the table and on the teamsheet. No Courtois. No Rodrygo. No Asencio. A defence leaking goals, an attack missing weapons, and a fanbase demanding a response.

If this season is going to be dragged back from the edge, it has to start with a patched-up side finding a way to win anyway.