Real Madrid vs Alaves: Match Preview, Team News, Predicted XI

Real Madrid host Alaves at the Santiago Bernabeu as the Los Blancos look to reduce the gap at the top to 8 points and reignite their La Liga dreams after Barcelona drew against Valencia in their last match.

Los Blancos have a tough set of fixtures coming up after today's clash starting with the midweek Copa del Rey clash against arch-rivals Barcelona followed by the Madrid derby and Champions league round of 16 fixture against Ajax. Solari will need to keep his stars fit for these big matches while extending his 5 match winning run with another victory over Alaves.

Alaves has been one of the surprises of the season so far with the team from the Basque county sitting 6th in the table with 32 points. Alaves though are winless in their last 3 matches and will be hoping to break their run today.

The first encounter between the sides ended with the Los Blancos losing 1-0 away to Alaves.

Team News

Real Madrid

The German midfielder is back from injury

Raphael Varane and Dani Carvajal will be missing for the Los Blancos through suspension with Nacho and Odriozola likely to field in for the missing duo.

Jesus Vallejo remains the only injured player in the Real Madrid squad with Gareth Bale, Marco Asensio, Marcos Llorente, Mariano Diaz and Toni Kroos all returning from injuries.

Santiago Solari is expected to make a few changes to his starting lineup with the gruelling set of high profile fixtures coming up.

Alaves

Rodrigo Ely and Adrian Marin remain in the sidelines with injuries for Abelardo Fernández while Pina is available after missing the last match due to suspension.