DBasia.news – Real Madrid maintained their winning momentum after their 2-0 win over Espanyol in Week 16 of LaLiga at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Two Real Madrid goals were scored by Raphael Varane (37 ‘) and Karim Benzema (79’), Madrid also played with 10 players when Ferland Mendy was given a red card on the 83rd minutes. The hosts dominated possession to 61 percent, releasing 18 kicks and eight among them were right on target.
For a while Madrid were at the top of the standings with 34 points, three points ahead of Barcelona who will play against Mallorca on Sunday (12/08) AM. The victory was more special for Madrid.
Benzema has scored 11 goals in LaLiga and continues to solidify his status as Pichichi aka LaLiga’s top scorer, two goals ahead of Lionel Messi, Barcelona’s superstar. In total, Benzema has scored 15 goals in 19 matches in all competitions this season.
Only Robert Lewandowski (27 goals from 22 matches), Ciro Immobile (19 goals from 17 matches), and Timo Werner (17 goals from 21 matches), have scored more goals than Benzema in the top five European leagues.
In addition, according to Opta’s record, the win was a victory for 1,700 Real Madrid in LaLiga and has made the Spanish Capital club the first team to do so.
Madrid coach, Zinedine Zidane, also gave his assessment of the final results of the match. He considered Espanyol to have played well and unworthy of being in their current position in the standings – ranked 19th, aka the relegation zone.
“That was a challenging match, it was clear, and indeed it should be – as I have said,” stated Zidane, as quoted from the United States.
“Espanyol do not deserve to be in their position right now, you can see it today. They have something great. We faced a little difficulty towards the end of the match, by staying calm and playing our game, we performed well and deserved to win,” explained Zizou.