Three goals after half-time handed the league leaders the three points.
Real Madrid secured an emphatic 3-0 victory over Alaves at the Santiago Bernabeu to extend their lead at the top of La Liga to seven points.
With the scoreline level at half-time, second-half goals from each of the starting front three – Marco Asensio, Vinicius Junior and Karim Benzema – ensured Los Blancos bounced back from their midweek Champions League defeat to PSG.
The first half was a relatively dull affair, with the visitors sitting deep and allowing little opportunity for Carlo Ancelotti’s men to create any meaningful chances.
It was Alaves that had the best two chances of the opening 45 minutes, as Jason blazed over from inside the box and lively winger Rioja struck his low drive straight at Tibo Courtois.
Rioja also had the best chance in the opening exchanges of the second period, after he latched onto a long ball in behind the Real Madrid defence and rounded Courtois, but he was unable to squeeze the ball home from a tight angle.
The home side’s first major opportunity came on 54 minutes, as Vinicius’ left-footed strike was well saved by Pacheco before Benzema’s rebound was then cleared off the line by a covering defender.
With the game opening up as the hosts went in pursuit of the opening goal, substitute Pons was first to react to a poor back pass by Militao but he somehow missed the target from just six yards out.
And the away side were punished just a minute later. Asensio picked the ball up 20 yards from goal and curled an effort into the top corner to open the scoring just past the hour mark.
It was one-way traffic from that point onwards, with Militao heading agonisingly wide from Asensio’s ball in and Benzema’s shot hitting the post.
But any fears of Real Madrid coming back to rue those missed opportunities were put to rest with 10 minutes left on the clock, as Vinicius tapped in from six yards out to cap off an excellent team move, with Benzema providing the assist.
The Frenchman then cooly despatched a spot-kick in added time – marking his 25th goal of the season – to round off a comfortable win for Real Madrid.
That leaves them seven points clear of second-placed Sevilla, who will be looking to close the gap back down to four points when they head to Espanyol on Sunday.
