10-Man Barca Drop Points, Benzema & Vinicius Star For Real
09 January, 2022
Real Madrid 4-1 Valencia
Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior played starring roles as Real Madrid restored their eight-point lead at the top of LaLiga with a 4-1 victory over Valencia on Saturday night.
Los Blancos nearly got off to the perfect start when Toni Kroos' free-kick found Eder Militao, who saw his header tipped away by Valencia shot-stopper Jasper Cillessen.
Cillessen was called into action once again on 30 minutes, this time using his legs to keep out a low strike from Marco Asensio who managed to weave his way into the box.
Just minutes after Luka Modric hit the crossbar, Los Blancos were awarded a penalty on the stroke of halftime after Mouctar Diakhaby's foul on Casemiro. Benzema took responsibility and rifled the ball into the top corner for his 300th goal for the club.
The lead was doubled six minutes after the break as Benzema turned provider to combine with Vinicius, who calmly slotted home from close range to take his tally to 11 league goals.
Vinicius got his second and Madrid's third goal on the hour mark with a simple header into an empty net after Cillessen struggled to keep out Asensio's close-range effort.
The visitors were awarded a penalty of their own with 15 minutes to following Ferland Mendy's foul on Marcos Andre, which allowed Goncalo Guedes to convert at the second time of asking after Thibaut Courtois made the initial save.
Benzema had the final say though as the Frenchman completed his brace in the final two minutes after getting on the end of Mendy's cross before scoring with a neat turn and finish.
Granada 1-1 Barcelona
FC Barcelona missed the chance to move third spot on the LaLiga table after dropping points at Granada on Saturday evening.
Barcelona had the ball in the back of the net after seven minutes when Frenkie de Luuk de Jong nodded home a cross from Gavi, but the goal was disallowed after the latter was offside in the build-up.
Granada did show glimpses of their attacking threat at times and they nearly took the lead in the 26th minute but Machis' stinging strike forced a fine save out Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Xavi's charges dominated possession for most of the first half but other than a couple efforts from distance, the visitors struggled to carve out any serious attempts in the final third.
However, Barcelona got their reward in the second half as Luuk de Jong bagged his second goal of the season after turning home a cross from Dani Alves just before the hour mark.
That proved to be De Jong's final involvement as he made way for Depay on 62 minutes, before Granada introduced Montoro, Domingos Duarte and Álex Collado with the hope of bagging an equaliser.
Barcelona were then reduced to 10 men in the 79th minute when Gavi was given his marching orders for picking up a second yellow card.
Granada got themselves the equaliser on 10 minutes later as Antonio Puertas took advantage of some poor defending before to fire home from a corner kick.
Source: www.soccerladuma.co.za
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