Real Madrid claim narrow win in derby showdown

The two sides went into the game with very different, but equally serious, motives as 'Los Blancos' looked to re-establish themselves at the business end of the league following an inconsistent start to the campaign and Rayo searched for previous points in their battle to avoid the drop.

Madrid quickly took control of the ball early on, retaining possession at will, albeit without truly carving their opponents open.

Whilst the encounter was far from a classic, it only took Real Madrid 13 minutes to find the opener as Benzema both started and finished the move.

The Frenchman picked out Lucas Vazquez on the right with a raking cross-field ball and when his ghosting run wasn't tracked, a cute reverse pass from Vazquez put him in one-on-one, with Benzema duly slotting the ball into the far corner of Stole Dimitrievski's goal.

There was a short burst of menace from both sides just after that goal, with Rayo's Emiliano Velazquez heading a gilt-edged chance wide when left completely unmarked at a corner.

Real quickly hit back, going close as Marco Asensio was denied by Dimitrievski after racing clear and Toni Kross rattled the base of the post with a powerful low drive either side of Lucas Vazquez seeing a header cleared off the line.

With that Madrid lead at the break, though Rayo did improve slightly following the restart.

The hosts saw a goal rightly chalked off for offside just after the hour mark as Sergio Ramos headed home a Toni Kroos free-kick, before a thunderous effort from range from substitute Bebe reminded Madrid of the precariousness of their lead.

The game became bittier in the latter stages as more and more fouls crept into the affair, whilst Madrid suffered a huge blow as Benzema appeared to injure an ankle and had to be replaced by Vinicius.

There was almost a dramatic leveller late on as substitute Alex Alegria and Velazquez both went close, with the latter's effort needing a combination of Thibaut Courtois and Dani Carvajal to prevent it from crossing the line.

However, Real Madrid did manage to hang on to claim three valuable points as they move into third place in LaLiga. Rayo, meanwhile, remain 19th in the Spanish top flight. 

 

December 15, 2018