Real Madrid vs Alaves: La Liga – preview, team news, start, lineups   

 Real Madrid head into the midweek fixture on the back of a four-game winless run that leaves them on the verge of finishing the season without any silverware.  

   That poor run of results includes a 2-1 defeat to Mallorca and a 1-1 draw with Girona in La Liga, leaving them nine points away from Barcelona with seven games left to play, including El Clasico on May 10. 

Those two results took place on either side of a 2-1 defeat in the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Bayern Munich, leaving them with significant work to do in the return fixture in glory.

 Los Blancos produced one of their best performances of an underwhelming season in Munich, establishing a 3-2 lead to level the tie on aggregate, only for Eduardo Camavinga's 86th-minute red card to swing the momentum in Bayern's favour. 

While Real Madrid were left angered by the decision to show Camavinga his second yellow card for delaying the restart, Bayern took full advantage to score two late goals to condemn Los Blancos to back-to-back quarter-final exits in the Champions League.

 With the league title realistically out of reach, the focus and speculation are already turning to the future of Alvaro Arbeloa and squad plans for the 2026-27 campaign. 

 However, Arbeloa's charges must remain professional and put all their efforts into Tuesday's outing at the Bernabeu, where they will attempt to record a ninth consecutive head-to-head win against Alaves - a winning run they continued with a 2-1 success in December's trip to Mendizorroza.  

Real Madrid possible starting lineup: 

 Lunin; Alexander-Arnold, Militao, Rudiger, Carreras; Valverde, Tchouameni, Guler, Bellingham; Mbappe, Vinicius Jr   Alaves possible starting lineup:   Sivera; Perez, Otto, Tenaglia, Parada, Yusi; Ibanez, Blanco, Guridi; Martinez, Boye

Real Madrid faces Deportivo Alaves at Estadio Bernabéu on Tue, Apr 21, 2026, 19:30 UTC. This match is part of the LaLiga. You can check the recent head-to-head