La Liga, Real Madrid beat Alaves 4-1: Records broken
Real Madrid hammered Alaves 4-1 to give Carlo Ancelotti a winning start on his return to the club as manager in the opening gameweek in La Liga 2021-22. Talisman Karim Benzema netted a brace to help Los Blancos earn all three points. The match also saw Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale start in attack alongside Benzema. Here are further details.
Benzema makes the difference as Real emerge winners
Real labored in the first half as the score ended 0-0. After the break, things changed for the visitors. Hazard, who was plagued by injury woes last season, produced a backheel pass for Benzema's opener in the 48th minute. Nacho doubled the lead with a volley before Benzema made it 3-0. Alaves had a penalty to pull one back as Vinicius Junior scored late.
Benzema races to 194 career La Liga goals
After ending last season in La Liga with 23 goals, Benzema continued with his brilliance. The veteran forward has raced to 194 La Liga goals in 384 appearances for Real Madrid. Benzema now has 281 goals for Real in 560 matches across competitions. Interestingly, Benzema, who opened the scoring in Ancelotti's return, had scored the first in the latter's first spell too.
Joselu continues his fine form against Real
Alaves's Joselu has scored six goals in seven La Liga games against Real Madrid. Notably, only Luis Suarez (7 goals in 10 games) has scored more than him against Los Blancos since January 2016 in the competition. Joselu scored his 17th La Liga goal for Alaves in 61 appearances.
La Liga 2021-22: Key details of other matches
There were two other games played on Saturday with Mallorca and Real Betis seeing a 1-1 draw. Meanwhile, Cadiz and Levante played out a 1-1 draw as well. Earlier, Valencia had beaten Getafe 1-0. Notably, both Atletico Madrid and Barcelona are in action tonight.
