Benzema is Mad up
Karim Benzema fired Real Madrid to a 1-0 derby win over Atletico as Zinedine Zidane’s men underlined their La Liga title credentials.
The French forward side-footed home a cross from compatriot Ferland Mendy in 56 minutes to break the deadlock in a tight game after coach Zidane had sprung a double substitution to give his team more width.
After failing to break down Atletico he hauled off Toni Kroos and Isco at the start of the second half for Lucas Vazquez and Vinicius Jr.
And Brazilian teenager Vinicius helped burst open a stubborn Atletico, taking out three defenders by releasing Mendy who needed only one touch to pick out Benzema.
Zidane said: “I wasn’t happy with what I saw in the first half.
“It wasn’t the players’ fault, it was mine. So I changed Isco and Kroos, but I could have changed others. We were much better afterwards.”
Atletico rarely looked like troubling a Real defence that has conceded just 13 goals in 22 league games.
However, they had a strong penalty appeal turned down when Casemiro sent Alvaro Morata to the ground in the first half.
Benzema’s strike gave Real their first home victory over Atletico in the league since 2012 and increased their lead over Barcelona at the top of the table to six points.
Barca can reduce the margin to three points if they beat Levante today.
Atletico are fifth and trail their local rivals by 13 points, while their injury problems deepened when striker Morata limped off early in the second half with a suspected muscle problem.
In Germany, Borussia Dortmund teenagers Jadon Sancho and Erling Braut Haaland both made history with goals in a convincing 5-0 win over Union Berlin.
England’s Sancho became the only teenager to score 25 Bundesliga goals with a deflected strike to open their scoring.
Norway international Haaland then became the first player to score seven goals in his opening three Bundesliga games.
He netted a tap-in to make it 2-0 and blasted in Dortmund’s fifth.
Bundesliga league leaders Bayern Munich beat Mainz 3-1 with Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller and Thiago Alcantara on target.