Real Madrid 4-2 Granada: Eden Hazard opens his account as Los Blancos extend LaLiga lead
06 October, 2019
Karim Benzema, Eden Hazard, Luka Modric and James Rodriguez were all on target as Real Madrid made life difficult for themselves but ultimately beat Granada 4-2 at home to stay of La Liga on Saturday evening.
The French forward opened the scoring inside two minutes as he converted with his left foot from close range after a lovely cross by Gareth Bale with the outside of his boot from the right.
Dani Carvajal, playing on the left in the absence of Ferland Mendy, Marcelo and Nacho, later missed two wonderful chances to extend the lead for a dominant Madrid side in the first half.
Hazard then made it 2-0 in added time at the end of the opening 45 minutes as he kept his cool under pressure from two Granada defenders to lob Rui Silva from just inside the box and net his first goal for the club after Fede Valverde had won the ball back in the opposition half.
Modric, who had replaced Toni Kroos in the first half, rifled home a spectacular third from outside the box just after the hour mark and Zinedine Zidane’s side were cruising at that point.
But goalkeeper Alphonse Areola gave away a needless penalty when he missed the ball and kicked the calf of Carlos Fernandez instead. The Frenchman guessed right, but was unable to save the spot-kick from Darwin Machis after 69 minutes.
Domingos Duarte then poked past Areola from a corner with 13 minutes left and Madrid were suddenly in an identical situation to the one in the game against Levante last month, when Los Blancos had seen a 3-0 lead at the Santiago Bernabeu cut to 3-2 but clung on for the win.
This time, Zidane’s side stood firm through a nervy last 10 minutes, and after Benzema had missed a great chance to clinch it at the far post with Granada stretched, James stroked the ball home from another counter in the third minute of added time.
The win sees Madrid stay top, with Granada in second for now, although the Andalusians could be overtaken by Atletico Madrid, Real Sociedad and one of Barcelona or Sevilla on Sunday.
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