Hazard leads Real Madrid to Alaves rout
Eden Hazard scored one goal and create another as Real Madrid thrashed Alaves 4-1 in Saturday to help ease the pressure on the coach Zinedine Zidane, who was simply absent after testing confident for Covid-19.
Zidane's position possesses come under scrutiny again after Wednesday's defeat by third-tier area Alcoyano found in the Copa del Rey but Madrid responded in Mendizorroza without their coach, or perhaps their captain Sergio Ramos, who was simply out with a good knee injury.
Goals from Casemiro, Karim Benzema and Hazard put Madrid three up in half-time and while Alaves briefly threatened a fightback when Joselu headed in, Benzema added another to put the result beyond doubt.
The victory is merely Real Madrid's second in six matches and leaves them four points behind Atletico Madrid, who've two games at hand and play Valencia at home on Sunday.
"The goals are best for the confidence, for everybody," said Benzema. "It has been a challenging week for all of us because we will have to win, will have to become on the up. There's always pressure. Today it went well, not just for me, for everybody."
Zidane was first confirmed to have tested positive on Fri, leaving his assistant David Bettoni to take charge in the dug-out, although Bettoni was first pictured on calling in the next half.
"He was happy with the attitude of the workforce," explained Bettoni when asked what Zidane acquired told him following the game. "He explained to congratulate the players, as he would did if he was with us."
Bettoni became popular Hazard while Alaves were gaining belief early found in the second period however the Belgian enjoyed a positive outing overall that Zidane will expectation may be the start of a good revival.
The 29-year-old has already established a nightmare year . 5 in Spain, with this simply his third goal in La Liga and his earliest in the league abroad since becoming a member of from Chelsea for 100 million euros.
"We have to have significantly more patience, it's accurate that at Real Madrid patience is challenging," said Bettoni. "I think the very best release of Hazard possesses been seen just a little today and that each game we'll view it somewhat more."
Benzema was the chief beneficiary due to Madrid forgot their latest woes in attack.
There were strong performances also from Toni Kroos, Casemiro and Luka Modric in midfield, the latter providing a handful of supreme passes, one of which resulted in Benzema's second and Madrid's fourth.
Madrid's first half was probably their best of the growing season, prompted by an early goal from Casemiro to boost self-confidence, the Brazilian heading Kroos' corner in the post.
Hazard scuffed a likelihood wide but was involved in the second as he tried to flick Lucas Vazquez's move into Benzema but feathering it had been plenty of, with Benzema given space to fire in to the top left-hand corner.
Hazard managed to get three four minutes after. Kroos seemed up and as Alaves pushed out, Hazard surged in behind, the ball looping over for him to regulate and surface finish past Fernando Pachecho.
Alaves pushed hard after half-time and received hope when Joselu headed found in from Lucas Perez's free-kick. Yet the comeback was short-resided as Benzema raced onto another curling Modric pass out left, nipped inside and stroked in to the far corner.
Earlier, Youssef En-Nesyri scored his second hat-trick found in four games simply because Sevilla dispatched Cadiz 3-0 to move up to third.
The Moroccan striker's treble takes him level with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez near the top of the league's scoring charts with 11 goals and helps it be seven for him in the last four matches.
Cadiz, meanwhile, slide to ninth, below Real Betis, who came from in back of to salvage a 2-2 draw at Real Sociedad by scoring twice within the last five minutes.
Real Sociedad drop to sixth, 3 points adrift of Barca in fourth. Betis climb to eighth.
