Deportivo Alavés continue their great start to the season and travel to the Bernabéu with confidence

Several teams have had surprisingly positively starts to the new LALIGA EA SPORTS season, exceeding expectations by collecting more points from their first six games than most anticipated. Deportivo Alavés are absolutely one of those teams, having accumulated 10 points already from three victories and one draw. 

The Basque side’s latest win came on Friday night at home to Sevilla FC, a game they won 2-1 at Mendizorroza. Although they benefited from a little bit of luck with their goals, Deportivo Alavés were in control for most of the game and put in a thoroughly professional performance, the kind that has become the norm under coach Luis García Plaza.

The 51-year-old has become a hero at the Basque club, having led the team to promotion through the LALIGA HYPERMOTION playoffs in 2022/23 and then guiding them to a comfortable 10th placed finish in their first year back in LALIGA EA SPORTS. Despite losing important players such as Javi López, Luis Rioja, Giuliano Simeone and Samu Omorodion in the off-season, Luis García Plaza has put in place such a solid system that Deportivo Alavés have kept on thriving. 

This term, Deportivo Alavés have the second-least amount of possession in LALIGA EA SPORTS on average, with 41.0%, but they are vertical and do a lot with the ball when they have it. They have translated their scarce possession into the sixth-most big chances created in the competition, with 15, and into the sixth-largest xG, with 10.52. Defensively, they are solid and hard to break down, having given up the sixth-lowest xG against in LALIGA EA SPORTS, with 6.23 total so far. 

All of this has translated into a haul of 10 points, with Deportivo Alavés sitting sixth in the table. Not since 2018/19, when they had a great start under Abelardo, have the Basque side started a top-flight season with this many points at this stage. 

As well as their incredible results as a team, there have also been calls for winger Carlos Vicente to be included in the next Spain squad. He was the scorer of the opening goal on Friday night, his second of the season after also netting in the recent win over UD Las Palmas. 

Deportivo Alavés’ next challenge: Real Madrid at the Bernabéu

Next up for this impressive Deportivo Alavés side is a trip to the Bernabéu to take on Real Madrid on Tuesday night. Los Blanquiazules lost this fixture 5-0 towards the end of last season, in May when both clubs were already celebrating their respective successes, but their good form to start 2024/25 means this midweek game might play out quite differently. 

Luis García Plaza knows it’ll be another difficult visit, but trusts his Deportivo Alavés squad to compete as well as they have been doing all season so far. Speaking after the Sevilla FC win, he stated: “It’s true that we’re going to the Bernabéu and that it will be a difficult match. Last year we were also in good form ahead of that fixture, but we conceded five. However, as I always say, we will compete and give our best. If we continue to compete as we have been doing in the first six matches, we’ll keep picking up points. We have to keep growing this team spirit.”

This certainly is a team with a lot of spirit, that plays with head and heart. They maximise the efficiency of their time in possession and they fight for each other when defending. They’ll need to keep doing that at the Bernabéu on Tuesday night, and they just might have a chance against the defending champions.