Real Madrid put in a clinical display away from home to beat Mallorca 3-0 to open up a double-digit gap at the apex of the La Liga table.
Karim Benzema, fresh from his heroics against PSG, scored twice with Vinicius Jnr opening the scoring to lead Real to a comfortable win over a Mallorca side that has dropped five games in a row for the first time since 2012.
Mallorca kept their opponents at bay and even had the better of the first-half chances. First, striker Vedat Muriqi mistimed his volley when left unmarked in the middle before right-back Pablo Maffeo somehow scuffed his shot wide with a clear sight of Courtois’ goal
After a goal-less first half, Vinicius Junior broke the home side’s resistance in the 55th minute after being teed up by Benzema. Iddrisu Baba was caught on the ball just outside his own area by Federico Valverde before Benzema picked up the pieces and laid the ball on to Vinicius who calmly slotted the ball through the keepers’ legs.
Benzema took advantage of a tiring Mallorca side by adding two goals of his own to take his league tally for the season to 22 goals, putting him behind only Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski (29) in Europe’s top leagues.
The first came when Vinicius was brought down inside the penalty area and the Frenchman easily found the back of the net. The second came courtesy of a sublime header from a Marcelo cross in the 82nd minute.
Madrid will now hope he is fit to add to his tally against Barcelona after suffering an apparent calf injury in the process of heading home his second goal of the game. Rodrygo and Ferland Mendy also left the field with apparent injuries.
El Classico takes place on Monday at 1:00 A.M. PKT.
