Real Madrid found their usual dominance only after the half-time break and it was enough for them to tame Valencia’s positive approach.
Karim Benzema file image. (Photo by ANDER GILLENEA / AFP)
French forward powered Real Madrid to a comfortable victory of 3-0 over Valencia at an empty Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano in La Liga on Thursday. While Benzema netted a brace, Marco Asensio scored the other goal of the night.
With the initial whistle, both the teams looked to give fierce competition to each other and the game straightaway took a frenetic pace. However, Valencia emerged as the better team in the first half with a goal being controversially ruled out by VAR and Rodrigo Morenzo hitting the woodwork.
Los Blancos, meanwhile, found their usual dominance only after the half-time break and it was enough for them to tame Valencia’s positive approach.
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Benzema opened the scoring of the night in the 61st minute after receiving a delivery from Eden Hazard. The Belgian had played a one-two with Luka Modric before pushing the ball across.
The second strike came off the leg of Marco Asensio within a minute after he was introduced by Zinedine Zidane. After a glorious first touch to feed Ferland Mendy, who in turn beat Daniel Wass to get the ball back into his feet, Asensio punched a superb volley to dismantle Valencia’s net in the 74th minute.
“It’s been many months of hard work and I’m very happy to play again and to score,” Asensio said afterward as quoted by PTI via AFP.
“I feel a lot of emotion, satisfaction. A lot of work has gone into this.”
“It means a lot to him,” said coach Zinedine Zidane about Asensio. “We’re just happy to see him on the pitch again.”
The 24-year-old Spanish proved his worth again six minutes later when he put a cross to Benzema from the right side of the box. The 32-year-old Frenchman received the ball with his right and lifted it in the air over Hugo Gilmon before banging it into the top corner with his left foot to complete what might be the best goal of this La Liga season.
“Benzema’s goal was truly an amazing,” Zidane said. “The volley, the way the ball fell, with his left foot…I’m happy for him.”
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