Real Madrid Keep Heat On Barcelona With 1-0 Win Over Alaves; Kylian Mbappe Sent Off

Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe was sent off for an ugly lunge but his side still beat Alaves 1-0 on Sunday to stay four points behind Barcelona at the top of La Liga. Mbappe's dismissal put his team-mates under pressure but Alaves were also reduced to 10 players in the second half when Manu Sanchez hacked down Vinicius Junior. Eduardo Camavinga's first-half curling effort from the edge of the box was enough to split the teams as Madrid produced a gritty display to match Barcelona's single-goal victory over Leganes on Saturday.

"It was a hard game, tricky at first because of how intense our opponents were, and then after Kylian's red card the team pulled together," Real Madrid's Dani Ceballos told his club's television channel.

Assistant coach Davide Ancelotti took the place of his father Carlo Ancelotti, who was suspended, in the Madrid dug-out.

"The win gives us confidence, we knew it wouldn't be easy and what happened in the game didn't make it easy," said Davide Ancelotti after the game.

"I haven't spoken with (Mbappe) after the game, he's not a violent guy and he said sorry, he realised the error he made, it's clearly a red card and he paid the price.

"I'm not justifying it, but it happened after he was fouled several times in a row."

Los Blancos began with Vinicius on the bench, with the Brazilian's inconsistent form and the upcoming Champions League battle against Arsenal in mind.

Carlo Ancelotti had called for his team to defend better after conceding 11 goals in the last four games, including the painful 3-0 quarter-final first-leg defeat to the Gunners on Tuesday.

That call may have fed into Mbappe's wild foul on Antonio Blanco which caused the striker's dismissal.

By then Madrid had taken the lead in a