Benzema stars again as Madrid beat Alaves

Madrid's starting lineup included Gareth Bale for the first time since the Club World Cup in December, while Marcelo was once again conspicuous by his absence. Alaves had only beaten Madrid once in their previous ten meetings, and had little hope of improving that statistic ahead of the game, having plummetted down the table of late.

Indeed it was the hosts who started in complete control, and by the 20-minute mark they could have been four up. Alaves weren't threatening at all, and after half an hour Madrid took the lead. Vinicius picked the ball up on the left flank and slipped a through ball to the overlapping Reguilon. The young Spaniard, playing in place of Marcelo, flashed a low cross across goal, where Benzema was lurking to meet it. It was the Frenchman's sixth goal in his last four games for the club, and he seems a man in the form of his life.

As the second half kicked off Gareth Bale had his moments, rifling a shot straight at goalkeeper Pacheco before spooning a free-kick over the bar. That set-piece turned out to be his last action of the game, as he was quickly replaced by Marco Asensio. Alaves began to threaten, and had a big chance on 66 minutes when Jonny raced onto a through ball and lashed a half-volley at goal, which Courtois did well to save.

The home fans were becoming nervy - a one goal lead at this stage of the game is always precarious. But their nerves were dispelled with 10 minutes to go, when Vinicius finished cooolly to double the lead. Mariano Diaz then added further gloss to the scoreline in stoppage time.

Real Madrid move closer to Barcelona, who could only draw to Valencia on Saturday, and are now just eight points off the league leaders. The defeat means Alaves remain in 7th, their impressive start to the season fast becoming mere memory.