Real Madrid extends championship lead through stroke of genius by Karim Benzema

Center forward is commonly paid for goals in football, at least that’s the popular belief. Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema showed against Espanyol Barcelona once again that attackers should not be reduced to goals scored by themselves. With excellent preparation for Casemiro (45th minute), he ensured a 1-0 (1-0) victory in Barcelona, ​​with which the team of coach Zinedine Zidane defeated FC Barcelona in the championship fight.

Real had chances in the first half, but it was rarely really imperative. Until Marcelo almost played a diagonal ball from the center line to the edge of the box, the central defender Sergio Ramos extended his head to Benzema. The French striker accepted the ball in a duel with Espanyols Bernardo with his opponent and goal behind him. With the second contact, Benzema then played the ball with the hoe through Bernardo’s legs into the room, Casemiro only had to push in from five meters.

Espanyol, which was threatened with relegation as the bottom of the table, proved to be a tough opponent. The Catalans only became really dangerous once when Raúl de Tomás pulled a free kick from the right half field directly onto the goal. In the middle, several players missed their heads, Reals goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois deflected the ball forward under great pressure (66.).

Otherwise almost only Real played. However, although Espanyol’s chances of staying in the league are dwindling with just 24 points from 32 games and ten points behind, the defensive was difficult to overcome. So far, the team has conceded a relatively small number of 51 goals, the last Bundesliga player Paderborn had already conceded 68 goals after 32 matches. Espanyol’s big problem is the offensive, the team has only scored 24 goals so far.

Because of this, Real’s fifth win in a row was no longer in danger. After Barça did not get past 2-2 against Celta Vigo on Saturday, Real now have two points ahead of the previous year’s champions six games before the end of the season. Real had previously held the table lead, but only because of the direct comparison they had won against the big rival.