Amid loud whistles from the home fans towards their players, Madrid started slowly, and Dean Huijsen had to be alert to block a shot from Lucas Boye after Alvaro Carreras was caught out by a long ball over the top. Andriy Lunin, meanwhile, parried a low effort from Toni Martinez as the relegation-threatened visitors began the game in confident mood.
Madrid did, however, break the deadlock on the half-hour mark when Mbappe's shot from 20 yards took a wicked deflection to leave Alaves goalkeeper Antonio Sivera. That seemed to spark Los Blancos into life, too, as Mbappe then stung Sivera's palms, Trent Alexander-Arnold fired narrowly over and Eder Militao hooked an effort onto the crossbar, albeit he suffered an injury in the process that forced him off shortly before half-time.
Alaves still created opportunities of their own, and Martinez went close twice in quick succession, as he first hit the post before having a volley saved by Lunin. Madrid, though, made the game safe early in the second period when Vinicius whipped in a shot from 25 yards to silence those who had been jeering him since the first whistle.
That sparked Arbeloa into a number of changes and one of his substitutes, Brahim Diaz, immediately had a shot cleared off the line. But the alterations also meant Madrid lost a little rhythm, and Alaves continued to probe, with Lunin again called into action to push away a fierce strike from Martinez before Victor Parada hit the post with a diving header.
Martinez did eventually get his goal in stoppage time with a clever flick past Lunin, but it proved to be too little, too late.
GOAL rates Madrid's players from the Bernabeu...
