Vicente and Martínez from the bench: Alaves dismantles Elche with tactical precision

Must Watch Futmetrix Score: 88/100. When a manager's substitutions execute flawlessly, the gap between victory and defeat collapses into 14 minutes: Alaves proved it with three goals that transformed a competitive contest into a rout.

The intensity unleashed in the final quarter

The narrative shifted in the 76th minute. Alaves converted a penalty through Carlos Vicente, who had stepped onto the pitch just 39 minutes earlier. Then came the breaking point: David Affengruber of Elche received a red card in the 79th minute for a cynical last-man foul. Down to 10 men, the intensity transformed into punishment. Toni Martínez sealed the 2-1 in the 81st, assisted by Carles Alena, another substitute who proved lethal. The stakes of those changes were enormous: Alena delivered two assists from the bench, flipping the match's equilibrium from contested to dominant.

A barrage of 25 shots against 6

The stakes are written in shooting statistics. Alaves fired 25 times against Elche's meager six—a ratio that screams territorial domination. With 14 corners and relentless pressure, the hosts generated chances in waves. Germán Valera of Elche tried to maintain balance with an assist in the 90th, when André Silva scored a consolation goal. But by then, Lyle Boye had already made it 3-1 in stoppage time, also set up by Alena. Three goals in 14 minutes: the upset factor of perfectly executed tactical substitutions.

The balance shattered by a red card

Elche arrived in superior form (7th place with 13 points versus Alaves' 10th with 11), but Affengruber's expulsion transformed a competitive match into a monologue. Possession disparity (53% for Elche, 47% for Alaves) became irrelevant once numerical superiority kicked in. Alaves' changes—Vicente at 37 minutes, Alena at 72, Silva at 69 for Elche—defined the outcome. This was a crunch match where tactical decisions mattered more than raw talent.