Real Madrid moved five points clear of Barcelona at the top of La Liga despite a lacklustre performance as goals from Karim Benzema, Isco and Nacho secured a 3-0 win over Alaves on Sunday. Benzema volleyed home Dani Carvajal's cutback for the opening goal just after the half hour mark.
However, the European champions were grateful to Alaves' wastefulness in front of goal after the break as Deyverson and Edgar Mendez passed up huge chances to equalise.
Isco eventually made the game safe five minutes from time before Nacho rounded off the scoring moments later.
Barcelona can close back to within two points with victory at Granada later on Sunday. Real boss Zinedine Zidane had handed a rest from the start to a host of his stars involved in international duty over the past week as captain Sergio Ramos, Marcelo and James Rodriguez were left out.
Yet, Zidane's plans were undone inside 10 minutes when Raphael Varane suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury and had to be replaced by Carvajal.
Zidane did name his first-choice front three as Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale flanked Benzema.
All three fired off target from the edge of the box as Madrid started brightly, but they had to wait 31 minutes for the opener. Carvajal's burst of pace took him to the by-line and he picked out the unmarked Benzema to smash into the far corner.
Madrid's rhythm was disrupted by the half-time whistle, though, as Alaves were the better side for large spells of the second-half. Deyverson headed over from point-blank range from Theo Hernandez's cross before Mendez passed up the visitors' best chance when he slotted wide when unmarked at the back post.
Manu Garcia's flicked header also then dipped just beyond Kiko Casilla's far post as the Santiago Bernabeu crowd became restless.