On the back of Club World Cup glory on Saturday, Real Madrid have returned to winning ways in La Liga on Wednesday evening after a commanding victory over bottom side Elche.
Following their defeat to Mallorca 10 days ago, and subsequent victories for Barcelona against Sevilla and Villarreal, Real Madrid found themselves 11 points adrift of Xavi Hernandez’s side ahead of the match against Elche. However, that deficit has been reduced to eight in comfortable fashion.
Marco Asensio got the ball rolling after just nine minutes. He collected a pass from Dani Carvajal midway inside the Elche half, and proceeded to evade several challenges before driving into the box and firing beyond Elche keeper Edgar Badia.
Real Madrid doubled their lead from the penalty spot on the half hour mark. Enzo Roco handled into his own box, which gave Karim Benzema the opportunity to score from 12 yards, which he did with an emphatic effort.
The striker was Benzema’s 10th league goal of the season, and he grabbed his 11th just before half time. Diego Gonzalez fouled Rodrygo inside the penalty area, and Benzema tucked the ball home for his second of the match.
Luka Modric put the gloss on the victory in the second half, with the veteran midfielder climbing off the bench to score a fantastic rifled effort from the edge of the box to make it 4-0, which is how it stayed until full time.
Real Madrid travel to face Mallorca in their next La Liga fixture on Saturday evening, before heading to England to face Liverpool in the first round of their Champions League last 16 tie next Tuesday. Elche remain at the foot of the table, 12 points adrift of Espanyol in 17th place.
Match Events
4' CLOSE! Militao’s shot wide out
8' GOAL! Real Madrid 1-0 Elche (Asensio)
14' CLOSE! Benzema’s header wide out
31' Penalty Goal! Real Madrid 2-0 Elche (Benzema)
46' Penalty Goal! Real Madrid 3-0 Elche (Benzema)
53' Benzema's shot stopped
80' GOAL! Real Madrid 4-0 Elche (Modric)
Line-ups
Real Madrid XI: Lunin, Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Nacho, Camavinga, Valverde, Ceballos, Rodrygo, Benzema, Asensio.
Subs: Luis Lopez, Canizares, Vallejo, Modrić, Odriozola, Vazquez, Tchouameni, Rudiger, Mariano, Arribas.
Elche XI: Édgar Badía, Enzo Roco, Fidel, Magallan, Clerc, D.González, Gumbau, Ponce, Raúl Guti, Randy Nteka, José Ángel Carmona
Subs: Bigas, Gonzalo Verdú, Axel Werner, Josan, L.Boyé, Pape Diop, Tete Morente, P.Lirola, Nicolás Fernández Mercau, Lautaro Blanco, Jesús López
eggosa91
494
smile if madrid is the biggest club in the world
CEO222
443
If you want to check out the gif, just click here: https://bit.ly/3RZaEGY
Kingval60
432
Better than overrated gavi and pedri
deomodricdavid
389
The boy had good display again, Let's gather here to show Love for his performance,,,All football fans, u r welcome
Benxe
384
Don't know if you can see it but Rodrygo on the left wing is everything Vinicius isn't. I haven't seen a bad play from the guy even once this game. Vinicius does some great things sometimes but you start seeing him crapping really early on and more consistently than he produces gold. Rodrygo should be played more often alongside Benzema, Asensio and Valverde. It's a very balanced forward line and better than anything we've had this season. Yes, I know we're playing the worst team in La Liga but you know who's a polished refined team player and who isn't quite efficacious.
Faith4barca
381
He was banned for 3 La Liga Matches. He Still Has 14 goals and 5 Assists in La Liga without penalty. Respect His Name!!! Robot Lewangoalski 💙🔴🔵❤️
Suah-K-FCB
298
We all know that Penalty goal is your only hope
lawalolamide
262
Real Madrid to their opponents since last week
Amgnonijunior
218
Real Madrid thank you for saving the world from noise Pollution
AmiriKing07
156
and Who remembers this One love Madrid
maturidikxith
141
luka is best midfielder of our generation💎👑