Ancelotti\u2019s side asserts dominance with a 5-0 win over Basque visitors
\n MADRID
\nJude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior inspired runaway Spanish champions Real Madrid to a 5-0 rout of Alaves on Tuesday.
\nCarlo Ancelotti\u2019s side continued warming up for the Champions League final with a comprehensive demolition of their Basque visitors at the Santiago Bernabeu.
\nBellingham scored the opener and played a part in Madrid\u2019s next three goals, two scored by Vinicius, finding his best form at the business end of the season.
\nTurkish teenager Arda Guler added a late fifth to put the cherry on Madrid\u2019s cake and moving them 17 points clear of second-place Barcelona.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had just one defeat in the league and I think that a big part of the success is because of (the defence),\u201d Ancelotti told reporters after his side\u2019s 30th consecutive league game unbeaten.
\nMadrid celebrated their title with an open-top bus parade on Sunday but with the Wembley final a little over a fortnight away, nobody is letting their concentration slip.
\nLeast of all Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who made a fine double save from Samu Omorodion in the opening minutes.
\nAfter missing most of the season with a severe knee injury, Courtois is hoping for a Champions League final start and boasts three clean sheets in three matches since his return.
\n\u201cI knew I\u2019d come back strongly \u2014 I\u2019m the same Courtois, or even better,\u201d said the goalkeeper.
\nAncelotti selected the vast majority of his first choice line-up after resting them at the weekend, and Madrid\u2019s usual suspect opened the scoring. It was Bellingham, with his 19th league goal and perhaps his luckiest.
\nThe England international directed Toni Kroos\u2019 cross towards the far post where Dani Carvajal was running in, but the ball sank directly into the net.
\nBellingham trails La Liga\u2019s top scorer, Girona\u2019s Artem Dovbyk, by one goal.
\nMadrid doubled their lead after Bellingham threaded a pass through for Eduardo Camavinga.
\nThe French midfielder burst forward in the box and unselfishly squared for Vinicius to tap home when other players might have taken the chance to shoot.
\nAlaves midfielder Ianis Hagi, son of legendary Romanian playmaker Gheorghe Hagi, stung the palms of Courtois with a fierce drive at the other end.
\nThe visitors have enjoyed a strong season and are safely ensconced in mid-table, avoiding the stress of a relegation battle.
\nHowever, Madrid dismantled them with consummate ease and Fede Valverde rattled home the third in first-half stoppage time after Bellingham played him in.
\nThe Uruguayan midfielder hammered a strike into the top corner at the near post for his second league goal of the season, far fewer than his tally of seven last year due to his deeper role.
\nCourtois denied Omorodion and Hagi again in the second half as he continued stating his case to Ancelotti, and he ended up making nine saves altogether.
\nVinicius extended Madrid\u2019s lead after Bellingham played him in, lashing home his second of the night with a fine finish.
\n\u201cI\u2019m at my best,\u201d said Vinicius. \u201cNow we\u2019ve got time to train and that lets us stay calm, do good work and arrive better than ever at Wembley.\u201d
\nRodrygo should have added the fifth but goalkeeper Jesus Owono denied him from close range after Vinicius teed him up, and so it was Guler instead after a deflected effort fell his way in the box.
\n\u201cEvery time a small team comes here, it\u2019s a torment,\u201d lamented Alaves coach Luis Garcia Plaza.
\nEder Militao and Carvajal ended the game with apparent physical issues, but they turned out to be nothing serious.
\n\u201cWhat happened with the knee is nothing,\u201d Militao said after the game, while Ancelotti confirmed the Spanish defender was also fine.
\nElsewhere high-flying Girona, third, fell to a 1-0 home defeat against Villarreal \u2014 Barcelona can move four points clear if they win at Almeria on Thursday.
\nMallorca, 15th, rescued a 1-1 draw at Osasuna to add one more point in their battle for survival. The Copa del Rey runners-up are seven points clear of the relegation zone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ancelotti\u2019s side asserts dominance with a 5-0 win over Basque visitors MADRID Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior inspired runaway Spanish champions Real Madrid to a 5-0 rout of Alaves on Tuesday. Carlo Ancelotti\u2019s side continued warming up for the Champions League final with a comprehensive demolition of their Basque visitors at the Santiago Bernabeu. Bellingham […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407291,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-407278","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n