Real Madrid cruised to a 4-2 road victory against a Celta Vigo that couldn't keep from committing defensive errors, the capital squad's fourth win so far in the still-dawning "Santiago Solari era".
The two teams rocked right from the start at Balaidos stadium on Sunday, with Real's Benzema firing a pair of shots and Celta answering back with a cross from Boufal - and all this in the first five minutes, reports Efe news.
But then Real was able set the rhythm with good ball control and Celta backed off. Thus the capital squad had only a few reversals in the first half - the key one being Casemiro's ankle injury in the 10th minute.
Midway through the first half, in the 23rd minute, Benzema took a great pass from Modric and moved in against Sergio alone after a simple fake got him by Cabral and Roncaglia, getting Real on the board.
The Madrid team kept up the momentum against their rivals, mounting easy attacks along the flanks, albeit being unable to sink another shot until the 53rd minute, when it was Benzema again on another great individual effort taking advantage of a defensive error to fire one towards the net that hit the post and rebounded off the body of Celta's Cabral into his own net for the 2-0.
The home squad finally managed to get on the board in the 61st minute when team captain Hugo Mallo found the twine after a long pass by Brais.
In the 82nd minute, Sergio Ramos scored for Real Madrid on a penalty kick. Ceballos scored again for the capital boys with a powerful blast from outside the area in the 90th minute and Brais Mendez managed to notch a somewhat-face-saving tally for the home team in stoppage time.
Cabral was expelled in the 87th minute when he received his second yellow card.
--IANS
gau/mr
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