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.
Image via EFE
