Madrid, February 15 (BNA): Real Madrid comfortably beat bottom club Elche 4-0 in La Liga on Wednesday, to restore their eight-point lead against leaders Barcelona.
Real, who on Saturday won their fifth Club World Cup, are second in the standings with 48 points from 21 matches – behind leaders Barcelona, who have a 12-match unbeaten run.
“We played a good game and controlled a lot,” coach Carlo Ancelotti told DAZN.
“We handled ourselves well in the last third, had a lot of chances and watched them well to avoid counter-attacks.
“It was a good game at an important moment of the season.”
Marco Asensio, Karim Benzema and Luka Modric all scored on goal, as Real without the suspended Vinicius Junior wasted no time and could have opened the scoring four minutes into the game but defender Eder Militao narrowly missed the goal from distance.
But Asensio slashed past the Elche defense four minutes later to put Real ahead with a low shot into the bottom left corner.
The striker, Benzema, doubled his advantage from a penalty kick, just after the half-hour mark, and hit it in the upper right corner, after a penalty was awarded to Ancelotti’s team for handball.
By scoring the 229th goal, the Frenchman overtook former captain Raul Gonzalez (228) to become the fifth-highest scorer in LaLiga and the second-highest scorer in the league with Real Madrid, with Cristiano Ronaldo leading with 311 goals.
“(Benzema) is not just a striker,” Ancelotti said. “He gets along well with his teammates, he’s always ready in the penalty area and he helps us a lot in possession.
“Karim is having a great career. I hope he continues (in Madrid) because the fans are asking for him at this level.”
The France striker went on to make it 3-0 one minute into first-half stoppage time with another penalty kick, awarded to Real for a foul on striker Rodrygo.
At the start of the second half, Rodrigo had two close chances himself but Elche goalkeeper Edgar Badilla blocked him both times.
However, the hosts continued to enjoy possession and create chances, doubling the lead again in the 80th minute with a superb strike from Modric from the edge of the penalty area.
Elche had their best chance in the 38th minute when defender Jose Angel Carmona sent a precise pass into the penalty area but his powerful shot went wide.
“We are all aware of our situation,” coach Pablo Machin told a news conference. “For us, there are only finals left.”
Elche remain bottom of the table and 12 points off safety, with just one win in the 2022-23 season and no clean sheets in any of their 21 matches.
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