Real Madrid win battle with offside trap to seal comfortable victory over Elche

Elche 0-3 Real Madrid

Karim Benzema was crowned with the Ballon d’Or on Monday and two days later, he showed why against Elche.

There was a frantic start to the match and Benzema was on the scoresheet early, only to see it wiped away by a narrow offside. Fede Valverde continued his exquisite form with an intentional slice into the corner from just outside the box to give them the lead. Twice more Real Madrid would be denied by narrow offsides but it was not to matter, such was the incisive play on display.

Elche got to half-time at 1-0 and had contributed plenty of threat. Nico brought a good save from Andriy Lunin and early in the second half Carlos Clerc had a golden opportunity that the Ukrainian tipped over. It would be enough to keep just their second clean sheet in La Liga.

✅Hits the ball really hard
✅Physical specimen
✅Scores crucial goals
✅Nobody knows how to stop them

Erling Haaland 🤝 Fede Valverde pic.twitter.com/WS7tKrOIZe

— Football España (@footballespana_) October 19, 2022

However that brought forward the inevitable. This time Benzema was not to be denied. He played in Rodrygo down the left side, then latched onto his flick in front of the box, casually finding the corner. Just reward for a brilliant performance.

In the dying moments, Aurelien Tchouameni split the full-back and centre-back to find Rodrygo again. His cross was almost cushioned into the net by Marco Asensio scoring with his first touch.

An intense game ended in a comfortable victory for Los Blancos, who look ominous with a six-point lead at the top of the table before Barcelona play. Elche can take heart from the openings they created as they head to Barcelona themselves to take on Espanyol at the weekend.