By arlington Honestly, I almost skipped digging into this one. “Alaves vs Real Madrid?” My first thought was, “Come on, everyone knows how that usually goes.” But then that “Shock Results?” in the title kinda hooked me. Figured I should actually look at the numbers before I just assumed anything. You know how assumptions can bite you!
Where I Started (And Why I Was Wrong)
I fired up my laptop, yawned a bit – it was early – and went straight to the usual stats sites. My plan was simple: grab the head-to-head history, recent form, maybe goal trends. Find a couple of stats proving Madrid wins most times at Alaves. Done and dusted.
Yeah, well, that plan fell apart pretty fast. Started pulling the historical matches between them. Sorted by location. Scrolled down… and down… and then stopped. “Hang on a second,” I muttered. Was I reading this right?
The Stuff That Made Me Go “Huh?!”
- Madrid Losing… Often? In Vitoria? Okay, maybe not often, but way more than I ever remembered. Found out Alaves actually beat Real Madrid at home back in the 2019-2020 season. Like, convincingly too. 2-1. That fact just sat there blinking at me. Completely forgot that.
- Draws Galore? Then I kept scrolling. The number of times they’d tied at Alaves’ place? It felt way higher than you’d expect with a giant like Madrid. Seriously, draws popped up more than comfortable wins for Madrid in some stretches. Wth?
- Madrid Not Exactly Smashing Them? This was the real kicker. Even some of the Madrid wins weren’t stomps. Like grinding out 1-2 wins or tight 1-0 results. I was expecting pages of 3-0, 4-1 type demolitions. Turns out those trips to Mendizorrotza are frequently just… hard work for Madrid. Who knew?
Fighting the Spreadsheet Monster
Now, I like numbers, but spreadsheets can turn into a nightmare real quick. I dumped all this historical data in – dates, locations, scores. Tried making a pivot table to see win/loss/draw percentages specifically at Alaves.
My computer chugged. I spilled coffee on my notes (classic). Finally got it sorted, but not before Excel froze on me twice. Pure frustration! Took way longer than it should have because the data formats were messy. Hate that.
The final picture was way less one-sided than I ever thought. Madrid still favored, obviously. But the stats showed Alaves at home isn’t just a free three points. Not by a long shot. Those draws and that famous win proved the potential for a “shock” wasn’t just headline hype – it had historical roots.
Wrapping My Head Around It
So, lesson learned (again). Don’t just go with the gut feeling, even for teams as dominant as Madrid. The actual stats told a more nuanced story. It wasn’t a story of constant upsets, but definitely a story of Madrid finding it consistently tougher in that specific stadium than I gave them credit for.
Makes me wonder why that stadium is such a grind for them. Smaller pitch? Loud crowd? I dunno, but the numbers don’t lie. Should’ve checked this stuff ages ago. Ended up being a much more interesting deep dive than I expected when I first woke up!