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Real Madrid: Vinicius and Benzema lead the Whites' victory against Valencia
The Real Madrid received Valencia this Saturday at the Santiago Bernabéu and beat the Galicians with a victory of 4 goals by 1, in a match marked by controversial arbitration when whistling the penalty that would grant the first goal of the locals.
The Frenchman Karim Benzema and the Brazilian Vinicius Junior were in charge of scoring, twice each, for the meringues to obtain the victory and to consolidate even more in the leadership. For his part, Gonzalo Guedes discounted for the visitors.
Madrid came from a league defeat against Getafe, where those led by Quique Sánchez Flores beat the current winter champions by the minimum at the Alfonso Pérez Coliseum.
In the same way, those led by Carlo Ancelotti last Wednesday obtained the victory with a score of 1-3 against Alcoyano, in a match where they did not finish clearing the doubts about their performance at the beginning of 2022.
Arbitration help?
Alejandro Hernández was the referee responsible for whistling the match corresponding to matchday 20 of the Santander League and, without a doubt, the climax took place in the action between the Paraguayan Omar Alderete and the Brazilian Casemiro, where the referee did not hesitate to decree the maximum penalty in favor of the locals. Benzema converted from eleven steps at minute 43.
In post-match statements, the Italian Ancelotti, regarding Casemiro's penalty play, confessed that “it seemed quite clear to me from afar. It is true that he helped us to open the game, but it was a complete game. We started with problems in some cons, but then we had many chances, and we deserved to win”.
The first half was very close, although Valencia knew how to stop many white initiatives and turn them into dangerous scoring chances.
The clearest of the first half for Madrid was a great play by Croatian Luka Modrić whose shot ended up off the crossbar. After the first goal, the situation changed favorably for the locals, who expanded their lead thanks to two plays made by Vinicius in the 52nd and 61st minutes respectively.
Those led by José Bordalás did not give up, but took advantage of an attack that ended in a penalty in favor of Valencia. Fernand Mendy held Brazilian Marcos André in the area in an action that was clearly interpreted by the referee as a maximum penalty.
Gonzalo Guedes charged from the penalty spot, but the Belgian Courtois stopped him, although Guedes himself, taking advantage of the rebound, converted his head at minute 76, leading to the 3-1 set.
In the last minutes, Valencia was more, turning to the attack and was able to convert the second, but hopes to fell when Benzema converted the final 4-1, in an attack in which, turning on his own axis, he sent it to the networks background.
It should be noted that in this match Karim added his 300 and 301 goals to his personal list, becoming the fourth merengue player to reach the legendary 300 goals and close to adding Di Stéfano's 308 goals., current third top scorer in the club's history.
Upcoming engagements
With this victory, Real Madrid consolidates at the top of the table with 49 points, with an advantage of five points over Sevilla (45), fifteen over Betis (34) and sixteen over Atlético and Real Sociedad (33) who are in fourth and fifth position respectively, while the advantage extends to seventeen points over Barcelona (32), after their draw against Granada.
This Wednesday, January 12, a new edition of the Spanish football superclassic will be held, in the match corresponding to the semifinal of the Spanish Super Cup between Real Madrid and Barcelona, for it, it seems that the meringues have a better face and preparation than those directed by Xavi Hernández.
