Madrid: Real Madrid's Karim Benzema scored two sensational goals as they beat Valencia 3-0 at home on Thursday to stay in touch with La Liga leaders Barcelona although the visitors were left fuming after having an opening goal ruled out following a VAR review.
Benzema fired into the bottom corner to give Real the lead on the hour mark after an inspired piece of play by Eden Hazard, who fashioned a one-two with Luka Modric before sliding to the ground to nudge the ball into the path of the French striker.
Karim Benzema celebrates his spectacular goal in Real Madrid's 3-0 dismantling of Valencia.Credit:AP
Marco Asensio scored with his first touch since injuring his knee 11 months ago to double Real's lead in the 74th minute before Benzema rounded off the win with a jaw-dropping volley which he set up by flicking the ball from one foot to the other.
Valencia looked to have taken the lead when Rodrigo Moreno scored in the 20th minute but long after the players had celebrated the goal it was chalked off for offside against Maxi Gomez, even though the striker had not touched the ball.
"We started well but after that Valencia grew into the game and we knew we had to change something and push higher up the pitch, that's what we did and we won the game," said Asensio, who had a dream return after expecting to miss the whole season before the campaign was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I feel a lot of emotion and satisfaction but there was a lot of work behind this goal but the most important thing is that we won and I'm here for the rest of the season."
Zinedine Zidane's Real side are second in the standings on 62 points after 29 games, two behind Barca.
Earlier, Real Sociedad's miserable restart to the season continued with a 2-0 away loss to Alaves.
The revelation team of the 2019-20 season were in the Champions League spots when football stopped back in March.
But they now have one point from six and have been replaced by Atletico Madrid in fourth place.
Borja Sainz got the first on 59 minutes and Martin Aguirregabiria added a second deep into injury time.
The result leaves Alaves 10 points clear of the bottom three.
"We are a step closer to our objective," said Sainz.
"We are going to do our best to finish the job."
Real Sociedad's Igor Zubeldia lamented: "We were not at our best and it was the same in the last game. Now we have another opportunity this coming Sunday.
"We had plenty of the ball, but we didn't really test them and if you don't hurt teams with the possession you can't win games."
Reuters