34-time champions Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1 in a crucial La Liga match on Wednesday. Star striker Karim Benzema was once again the hero of the team’s victory. Madrid has made a strong move towards winning the title with a victory in their last football match of the year just before the start of the winter break. Los Blancos is 8 points ahead of second-placed Sevilla in the points table.
In this important match, Real Madrid started off aggressively without playing many key players on the field. Benzema gave the team the lead by scoring a fine goal in the fourth minute of the match. It was the 400th goal of Benzema’s career. Soon after, in the seventh minute of the match, Benzema scored once again to take the team 2-0. However, three minutes later, Oihan Sancet scored a brilliant goal for Bilbao to make the match 2–1. No further goals were scored in the first half and Madrid maintained their lead till halftime.
From the beginning of the second half of the match, Madrid started putting pressure on Bilbao. Real’s team made a great move in the 56th minute. However, Toni Kroos’s shot from a long distance goes over the goal post. On the other hand, Bilbao kept on trying even after falling behind in the match and in the last moments, the team had two excellent scoring opportunities. But Raul Garcia and Nico Williams squandered their chances. Just before the end of the match, Real had a great chance to extend the lead to 3-1, but Real Madrid striker Luka Jovic missed the goal on a fine pass from Frederico. However, this had no effect on the result and Madrid took the match 2–1 in their court.
With this win, Real Madrid has 46 points from 19 matches and the team has strengthened its position on the points table. Real have an 8 point lead over second-placed Sevilla, 17 over defending champions Atletico and 18 points over arch-rivals Barcelona. Also, the team has been unbeaten in its last 15 matches.
