Madrid (AFP)
Tireless!
Scout of a Madrid squad undermined by injury, Karim Benzema allowed Real Madrid to win 2-0 against Valencia on Sunday for the 23rd day of Liga, and reassure Zinédine Zidane ten days before the knockout stages of the League champions.
With this ball subtly brushed from the inside of the right foot towards the upright of Jaume Domenech (12th), Benzema scored his 12th goal of the season in La Liga (the 17th in all competitions) and showed the way for his family, before the second goal from Toni Kroos on an intelligent pass back into the box from Lucas Vazquez (42nd).
Thanks to this convincing result, the Merengues return to second in the standings (49 pts) ahead of FC Barcelona (3rd, 46 pts), which crushed Alavés 5-1 the day before with a double from Messi.
But Real remains five points behind the leader and neighbor, Atlético Madrid (54 pts), which has two games less.
Benzema gave "ZZ" a cold sweat at the start of the match: the French center forward complained of pain in his foot after a collision with Portugal's Thierry Correia, and Zidane sent Mariano Diaz to warm up. .. But "KB9" ended up evaporating all the worries with this nice goal from the 12th.
The broad smile that appeared on the lips of "Zizou" was quickly erased by the video referee: Ferland Mendy, served as a center-forward at the penalty spot, scored Madrid's 3rd goal after a hook (61st) ... but his achievement was invalidated by the VAR because of a borderline offside position by Vinicius at the start of the action.
- Carvajal still injured -
The big downside of the afternoon for Zidane, despite total domination, is Dani Carvajal's new injury: just back from a muscle injury contracted in the first match of 2021 on January 2, the right-back is stopped playing after a 25th minute check, grimacing.
He then left the field, went immediately to the locker room flanked by the trainers and was replaced by Lucas Vazquez (28th).
"Zizou" wanted to revive him before the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League on February 24 against Atalanta Bergamo ... it's missed.
This is the 4th injury of the season for the Spanish international (25 caps), who already has nearly 100 days of recovery in the 2020-2021 season alone.
And the puzzle will continue for the Marseille technician, who will have to deal with a full infirmary: currently, Sergio Ramos, Eder Militao, Alvaro Odriozola, Eden Hazard, Rodrygo, Fede Valverde, Marcelo and therefore Dani Carvajal are recovering.
Earlier in the day, Real Sociedad narrowly won on the ground of a direct competitor in European places, Getafe (1-0), and thus temporarily replaced 5th place (38 pts) ahead of Villarreal ( 6th, 36 pts) which receives the Betis Seville in the evening (9:00 p.m.).
© 2021 AFP