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La Liga: Real Madrid sit top after Vinicius inspires comeback win

 

Late goals from Vinicius and Karim Benzema earned Real Madrid a dramatic 2-1 victory over Valencia on Sunday night at Mestalla. The three points mean the capital city side are the outright LaLiga Santander leaders after five rounds.

So often, the home of Los Che has been a house of horrors for Los Blancos and it looked like another Mestalla meltdown was on the cards for Real Madrid after a Hugo Duro strike for Valencia, but a late surge ending with goals from Vinicius and Benzema turned the tables and gave the visitors a massive three points.

After being on the bench in the midweek Champions League visit to Inter, Eden Hazard was back in Carlo Ancelotti’s starting XI in place of Lucas Vazquez, but otherwise it was the same group of players the Italian boss fielded in Milan.

Valencia were dealt a pair of early blows with both Carlos Soler and Thierry Correira leaving the match inside of 23 minutes due to injuries.

Things were quiet for Real Madrid on the attacking end, with only just a couple half-chances for Hazard and Benzema. The injury bug also struck Los Blancos, as Dani Carvajal had to leave with an injury and was replaced by Lucas Vazquez.

The best scoring opportunity of the first 45 minutes came shortly before half time when a flashing header from Gabriel Paulista off a cross from Daniel Wass forced Thibaut Courtois into a reaction save.

Valencia also created the first chances of the second stanza, first with Courtois saving a Hugo Duro effort and then with a slick cut-back pass from United States international Yunus Musah that Goncalo Guedes fired over the crossbar.

Valencia’s persistence paid off and they would break the deadlock midway through the half when a cross took a slight deflection off the head of Lucas Vazquez and fell perfectly for Hugo Duro to latch onto with his left foot and fire into goal for a 1-0 lead.

Vinicius celebrates in Real Madrid's win over Valencia

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Ancelotti immediately went to his bench to try to counter the Valencia goal, with Eduardo Camavinga and Rodrygo summoned for Casemiro and Luka Modric. Later on, it was Isco and Luka Jovic on for Fede Valverde and Hazard, as time continued ticking down on Real Madrid’s chances to pull level.

Real Madrid had the pedal to the metal in a hard push for an equaliser and their efforts bore fruit in the final minutes, with Benzema collecting a pass and playing wide to Vinicius, whose shot took a deflection and beat Giorgi Mamardashvili to make it 1-1.

There was still time left to search for a winner and, in classic Real Madrid style, they would find it in the waning minutes with Vinicius serving up a cross and Benzema steering a header goalward for the dramatic 2-1 victory.

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