Casemiro praised Karim Benzema’s rear wheel support, which gave Real Madrid a 1-0 win at Espanyol, as “unbelievable”, while Zinedine Zidane believes it was even better than two similar famous efforts by former playmaker Guti.
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Madrid’s victory at RCDE on Sunday evening brought them two points ahead of rival Barcelona to top the La Liga table. Six games are still pending.
Marcelo’s long ball was directed by Sergio Ramos to Benzema, who rolled the ball back between Espanyol defender Bernardo’s legs to give Casemiro a close shot.
“It would be a bit unfair to talk about my goal after what Karim did. We have to congratulate him, it’s a first class rear wheel,” said Casemiro. “Knowing Karim is normal. He has the quality of a number 10, not a number 9. It is an incredible rear wheel. It is Karim’s goal.”
Benzema downplayed the miracle assistant and concluded that the game was a matter of course for him.
“This is soccer. These things come to me, that’s how I see soccer,” Benzema told Movistar. “I knew Casemiro would run after me. He took it well.”
The French striker has 17 goals and seven assists in the league this season.
“It’s a really important win,” he added. “I can’t say we don’t look at Barcelona, of course we do, but we’re focused. Every game is a final.”
In his post-game press conference, coach Zidane was asked to compare the goal with two others in Real Madrid’s recent history – when Guti returned to Deportivo La Coruna against Benzema in 2010 and the same player separated the Sevilla defense for Zidane himself, around 2006 score.
“I think this is here [is the best]”Karim,” said Zidane. ” It is the youngest. The good thing is that it’s a team move, Sergio with his head, Karim’s control and rear wheel, and then Casemiro knows that Karim can invent something. It is a nice team goal.
“We know that Karim is an impressive player and he shows it in every game … A player is constantly improving and that is exactly what happens to Karim. He is a good age, 32 or 33 if you take care of yourself like him, they’re your best years in soccer. “
Zidane denied that Real Madrid are now two points ahead of Barcelona.
“This will be decided at the end of the season,” he said. “I always think of the league that I won as a coach in 2017. We won it in the last game [a 2-0 win at Malaga]. The same thing will happen here. We are happy with five wins in a row, but it doesn’t change anything, we still have six finals ahead of us. “
The title race continues this week as Barca play Atletico Madrid in a high-profile game at Camp Nou on Tuesday before Real Madrid receive Getafe on Thursday.
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