Karim Benzema’s goal determined Real Madrid’s victory over Rayo Vallecano 1-0 in the match of Week 16 of Spanish La Liga at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Saturday (15/12). The only goal of the Los Blancos was created by Benzema in the 13th minute. With this victory, Madrid continued the positive trend with three consecutive wins.
Madrid has 69 percent possession, although only made nine experiments, four of which led to the Rayo’s goal. While the visitors are quite aggressive. A total of 11 trials were released but only three led to the Madrid goal.
Madrid appeared solid since the beginning of the first half. It didn’t take long for Hernan Solari to direct Vallecano goalkeeper. When the match was running for 13 minutes, Karim Benzema managed to hit the ball into goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski. Benzema released a long pass that Lucas Vazquez received.
His colleague returned the ball to Benzema. The French striker fired a shot which Dimitrievski could not reach and the ball went into his net.
Only three minutes later, Los Blancos almost conceded. Emiliano Velazquez welcomed a corner pass with a header, but his header was still narrowly high above Thibaut Courtois’s goal.
Madrid’s turn that almost doubled the advantage in the 16th minute. Marco Asensio’s ball kick which received feedback from Toni Kroos was still able to block by Dimitrievski with his feet.
Madrid again created a golden opportunity. This time in the 36th minute. Kroos’s hard kick welcomed Benzema’s pass unable to reach by Dimitrievski, but the ball still hit the post.
Madrid’s 1-0 advantage lasted until halftime. In the second half, Madrid created a little golden opportunity. In the 50th minute, Luka Modric stabbed Rayo’s defense before sending a dragging pass to Asensio in the middle. Asensio kick was anticipated by Dimitrievski.
The only important moment in the round was Sergio Ramos’s header in the 65th minute which the referee annulled. The Los Blancos defender was considered offside after receiving a Kroos free kick.
In injury time, Rayo almost broke into Madrid’s goal. However, two attempts were successfully countered by Courtois on the goal line.
There were no goals until the match ended and Madrid won 1-0 over the visitors. The victory also lifted the position of Los Blancos to rank third in the Spanish La Liga standings 2018/2019 by bagging 29 points.
Madrid shift Sevilla in the ranking. Sevilla will only play the match on week 16 to entertain Girona on Sunday (16/12). Madrid are two points behind Atletico Madrid in second place who won 3-2 at home to Real Valladolid. Atletico’s points are the same as Barcelona at the top of the standings. Rayo was buried 19th in the standings after only bagged 10 points.
