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Benzema Score Brace In Real Madrid 4-1 Win Against Alaves

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Real Madrid scored four goals for the first time in 18 matches, as they beat Alaves 1-4 on Saturday night at the Estadio Mendizorrotza in Vitoria.

Los Blancos shook off their three-match winless streak, which included defeats in the Supercopa de Espana and Copa del Rey, with one of their best performances of the season, led by Karim Benzema, who scored a pair of goals.

Joining the veteran striker on the scoresheet was Casemiro and Eden Hazard to help Real Madrid collect a badly-needed three points to remain second in the LaLiga Santander table.

With Zinedine Zidane absent due to COVID, trusted assistant David Bettoni was the man in charge on the bench. Lucas Vazquez slotted in at right-back, while Ferland Mendy returned to the left-back position. Eder Militao was chosen to pair with Raphael Varane at centre-back with Sergio Ramos out, and in attack it was the duo of Hazard and Benzema along with Marco Asensio.

The first big chance came Real Madrid’s way with a superb pass from Luka Modric to Benzema, who was unable to finish past Alaves goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco. The resulting corner kick bore fruit though, as Casemiro slipped free and spun a perfectly placed header into net for a 0-1 Real Madrid lead.

Real Madrid were displaying some of their best football in weeks and notched their second of the night in style, with Toni Kroos playing in a ball that was delicately back-heeled by Hazard, falling for Benzema, whose right-footed finish was never in doubt to make it 0-2.

Real Madrid’s first half for the ages was then capped by great work from Kroos, who took advantage of some slack play from the Alaves defence and picked out the Belgian, who calmly stroked in a shot past Pacheco to extend the lead to 0-3.

Alaves were better in the second half and handsomely rewarded just shy of the hour mark, as a powerful header from Joselu off a free kick beat Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to make it 1-3.

Bettoni made his first change shortly thereafter, with Vinicius Junior coming on for Hazard. Alaves remained on the front foot and grew in belief, but those comebacks hopes were quickly extinguished with an exquisite pass from Modric to Benzema down the left wing and the French striker did the rest, with a cut to his right and a wicked right-footer that rippled the net for a 1-4 lead.

Outside of a Lucas Perez shot that almost kissed the post, Real Madrid saw things out with no problem to earn a victory that should lift the spirits of their ill manager.

Match Sheet:

1.- Alaves: Pacheco; Ximo Navarro (Borja Sainz, min. 46), Laguardia, Lejeune, Duarte; Martin, Pina (Pere Pons, min. 72), Battaglia (Manu Garcia, min. 46), Rioja (Lucas Perez, min. 46); Edgar Mendez, Joselu (Deyverson, min. 79).

4.- Real Madrid: Courtois; Lucas Vázquez, Varane, Militao, Mendy; Casemiro, Modric (Odriozola, min. 77), Kroos; Asensio (Isco, min. 77), Hazard (Vinicius, min. 63), Benzema.

Goals: 0-1, min. 14: Casemiro; 0-2, min. 41: Benzema; 0-3, min. 45+1: Hazard; 1-3, min. 60: Joselu; 1-4, min. 70: Benzema.

Referee: Hernandez Hernandez (Canarias).

Yellow cards: Ximo Navarro (Min. 10) for Alaves. Manu Garcia (Min. 49) for Alaves, Militao (Min. 59) for Real Madrid, Laguardia (Min. 79) for Alaves, Borja Sainz (Min. 85) for Alaves, Mendy (Min. 86) for Real Madrid, Benzema (Min. 87) for Real Madrid, Edgar Mendez (Min. 92) for Alaves.

Red cards: None.

Stadium: Mendizorrotza.

Attendance: 0.

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