Real Madrid are living on a pink cloud this week. Arch-rivals Barcelona were convincingly defeated in El Clásico on Sunday and the lead extended. On Monday Karim Benzema received the Golden Ball as the best footballer of the past year for the first time. And goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois also returned from Paris with an honorary award.
The away game against Elche was a formality in advance. Indeed, the latter team is the only team in the Spanish top flight without a win, having already conceded 21 goals in 10 games, fired their coach and brought Jorge Almirón back as coach.
In short, no game for De Koninklijke. And it turned out, although Elche offered a nice match: 0-3.
Benzema needed just five minutes to open the scoring in Elche after it was the end of a fantastic combination with Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Vinicius as intermediaries. However, the latter was just offside and the party was canceled.
Moments later, Benzema was released again for Elche’s goal, but this time he found goalkeeper Édgar Badía. That was just a stay of execution: Elche couldn’t get the ball out of his own defense, whereupon Federico Valverde shot the ball into the net unstoppable from the outside left.
For the Uruguayan Valverde it was the fifth league goal this season. He made his fifth last Saturday against FC Barcelona, where the midfielder already shone. Reason enough for colleague Kroos to draw his attention to it again.
Even after that, Real’s storm didn’t let up. Elche got off to a good start when Rodrygo went off balance in the penalty area and was quite lucky when David Alaba’s goal was canceled out after another combination of multiple shots as Benzema was inches offside this time.
Soon after, Elche bit into the far post with a fine shot, but Ukraine keeper Andrij Loenin proved a worthy replacement for Courtois, pushing the ball over the defence.
Elche had the first chance after the break, where striker Lucas Boyé volleyed the ball over the goal after a great attack. The revival didn’t last long, but after another goal dismissed by Benzema and a couple of missed shots, the last goal stood.
In fact, with twenty minutes to go, it was almost 1-1. Carlos Clerc headed in from just under a yard, but Loenin held his own again.
A quarter of an hour before the end, Benzema made the end: After a hoe from Rodrygo, the Frenchman pushed the ball dry into the corner. The 0:3 was also allowed: Rodrygo threw the ball forward and substitute Marco Asensio lobbed the ball out of the air over goalkeeper Badia.
Yesterday Atlético Madrid lost two expensive points in the derby against Rayo Vallecano and lost third place in Spain to Real Sociedad, who beat Real Mallorca 1-0 at home.
On Thursday, FC Barcelona will have to try again to catch up with Real Madrid in the home game against Villarreal.
Source:NOS
I’m Maxine Reitz, a journalist and news writer at 24 Instant News. I specialize in health-related topics and have written hundreds of articles on the subject. My work has been featured in leading publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and Healthline. As an experienced professional in the industry, I have consistently demonstrated an ability to develop compelling stories that engage readers.
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