Madrid: Real Madrid were without Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale Saturday but Karim Benzema stepped up again to ensure they beat struggling Espanyol in La Liga.
Benzema scored one and set up another in a 2-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu, where Madrid wore an all-green kit to show support for this week’s Climate Summit in the city.
Victory means Zinedine Zidane’s side move to the top of the table, for a few hours at least, before Barcelona play later Saturday at home to Real Mallorca. Espanyol, who have not won now in six league games, stay 19th.
An ankle injury is likely to rule Hazard out of the season’s first Clasico December 18 while Bale has a thigh problem and is also a concern ahead of that crunch game at Camp Nou.
But another excellent Benzema display will at least be of some consolation, after he teed up Raphael Varane before scoring his 15th goal this term to put Espanyol out of sight.
Increasingly it looks like the winner of the Clasico will spend the Christmas break first in the table, with the top two pulling away from the likes of Atletico Madrid, who drew again away at Villarreal Friday night.
Sevilla, in third, are four points behind Real Madrid before they travel to Osasuna Sunday.
The absence of Hazard and Bale meant Rodrygo came in on the right of the front three while Vinicius Junior was given a rare chance to stake a claim on the left.
Vinicius’ last start came in the defeat to Mallorca October 19 and the 19-year-old, who has been out of favour under Zidane, impressed with a daring and dynamic performance.
He may now be given another outing against Club Brugge in the Champions League Wednesday, when Madrid are likely to rest key players given their qualification as runners-up is already guaranteed.
Vinicius looked eager to make an impact as he fired off an early shot from an acute angle and was then booked for a lunge at Espanyol goalkeeper Diego Lopez.
Espanyol had openings on the counter-attack, the best of them presented to Wu Lei, who was making history as the first ever Chinese player to play at the Bernabeu. His header was saved by Thibaut Courtois.
Madrid’s goal came in the 37th minute and from an unlikely source as Varane stayed up following a corner and Benzema found him in space after bundling through on the edge of the box. With his left foot, Varane stabbed into the far corner.
Vinicius might have made it two after tearing clear on the break but failed to beat Lopez at his near post while shortly after half-time Lopez denied Benzema, who had also broken in behind.
Benzema missed another chance from a Vinicius cross but finally got his goal with 11 minutes left. He threaded in Fede Valverde with a smart reverse pass and then continued his run, before meeting the pull-back and finding the corner.
AFP