Karim Benzema scored his 300th goal for Real Madrid but Vinicius stole the show again with a brilliant second in a 4-1 win for the leaders of Valencia.
2021/2022 La Liga
4-1
Match Report
Vincius was back after a coronavirus positive and he was brightest for Real Madrid lighting up the Bernabeu on 53 minutes with his 13th goal of the season.
He swapped passes with Karim Benzema inside the Valencia area and managed to nudge the ball one way and run the other past BOTH Valencia central defenders collecting it the other side to score.
Omar Alderete and Mouctar Diakhaby were helpless to stop him and it took the wind out of Valencia’s sails as they tried to get back into the game after a controversial first half penalty that provoked a tweet from the club that declared the decision a ‘robbery’.
The dubious spot-kick came at the end of the first half brought alive by Luka Modric.
His brilliant pass put Marco Asensio through but he shot straight at Cillessen.
Modric then shook the cross bar with a shot from the edge of the area before Benzema slammed his spot-kick into Cillenssen’s top left-hand corner after Alderete had stepped in front of Casemiro sending him down and leaving Alejandro Jose Hernandez Hernandez pointing to the spot.
Replays showed Alderete had done little more than park himself in front of Casemiro and apply the brakes. It was a soft penalty.
Benzema’s goal made it 300 goals in 584 games in 13 seasons at Real Madrid. He is now the club’s all-time fourth top scorer behind Alfredo de Stefano (308), Raul (323), and Cristiano Ronaldo (450).
Vinicius got his second heading in from close range after Yunus Musah had been dispossessed by Toni Kroos. Benzema played the ball on to Asensio and when his shot was saved Vinicius converted.
Valencia kept fighting and Courtois had to pull off a big save from Daniel Wass pushing his shot from distance over. On 76 minutes they got a foothold back in the game when Marcos Andre went down after being held by Ferland Mendy. Courtois saved the kick but the Portuguese forward headed in the rebound.
Courtois was busy again watching a Wass shot go just wide and then saving from Manu Vallejo.
But Madrid and Benzema had the last word with a move down the left that ended with substitute Dani Ceballos playing in Mendy who crossed for the Frenchman to score his second goal on the night and his 301st for Madrid.
Match Events
0' Militao failed to score a goal
13' Yellow Card! Casemiro booked
35' Benzema shot wide out
42' Penalty Goal! Real Madrid 1-0 Valencia (Benzema)
50' Yellow Card! Piccini booked
51' GOAL! Real Madrid 2-0 Valencia (Vinicius)
57' Yellow Card! Y. Musah booked
60' GOAL! Real Madrid 3-0 Valencia (Vinicius)
75' Guedes scored after missing the penalty
83' Yellow Card! Cheryshev booked
87' GOAL! Real Madrid 4-1 Valencia (Benzema)
Line-ups
Real Madrid XI: Modric, Benzema, Kroos, Alaba, Courtois, Casemiro, Vazquez, F Mendy, Asensio, Militao, Vinicius
Subs: Marcelo, Hazard, Isco, Nacho, Vallejo, Ceballos, Valverde, A. Lunin, Rodrygo, E. Camavinga, Diego Piñeiro
Valencia XI: Wass, Cillessen, Hélder Costa, Piccini, Gaya, Guedes, O. Alderete, Diakhaby, Maxi Gomez, Hugo Guillamón, Y. Musah
Subs: Cheryshev, Domenech, Manu Vallejo, U. Račić, Maranhão, Álex Blanco, Giorgi Mamardashvili, Jesús Vázquez, K. Koindredi, Cristhian Mosquera, Pedro Alemañ Serna, Rubén Iranzo