Three Questions Answered After Real’s 3-2 Victory Over Alaves

Despite a hard-fought match, Los Blancos finally secured three crucial points.

Which players were rotated?

Carlo Ancelotti rotated his squad in the weekend clash against Espanyol, and in the match against Alaves, the Italian coach continued this strategy.

After Dani Carvajal encountered an issue in the match against the Catalan side, he was replaced by Lucas Vazquez, who scored the opening goal.

Meanwhile, Ferland Mendy and Antonio Rüdiger returned to the starting lineup.

Ancelotti seemed to want the familiar attacking trio to improve their scoring tally, so he only introduced Endrick after around an hour of play. In fact, he gradually replaced Rodrygo, Kylian Mbappe, and Vinicius in the second half to give opportunities to Endrick, Arda Guler, and Fran Garcia.

Additionally, center-back Jesús Vallejo was given a chance to relieve some of the pressure on Eder Militao.

With a squad that boasts depth, Ancelotti is looking to provide chances for every player to perform at their best.

Why was the sound system at the Bernabéu so quiet?

It’s reported that the Real Madrid stadium still had a fully functioning sound system, which was used to announce the lineup, substitutions, and goal scorers at maximum volume, but the volume for ads and videos on the big screen was significantly reduced.

In fact, there was no music played before the match started or during halftime.

How did Ancelotti’s 300th match go?

This was the Italian coach’s 300th match in charge of Real Madrid, an incredible milestone previously only achieved by legendary coach Miguel Munoz, who led Los Blancos in 595 matches over 14 years.

During his time at Real, Ancelotti holds a 70.7% win rate, the second-highest in club history, just behind Jose Mourinho. However, Ancelotti has won 14 titles, compared to Mourinho’s three.

When Real announced this milestone at the Bernabeu, most fans stood up to give the former AC Milan boss a round of applause in appreciation.

However, there were also some boos, which could be attributed to the underwhelming start to the season and Real being overtaken by Barcelona in the La Liga standings. Nevertheless, Ancelotti and his team have gradually improved their form and are now just one point behind Barca (having played one more match).