BARCELONA, 30 Oct: Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior took over the scoring duties from Karim Benzema by netting twice to help Real Madrid win 2-1 at 10-man Elche on Saturday and move to the top of the Spanish league standings.
\nVin\u00edcius opened the scoring with a 22nd-minute strike. After Elche midfielder Ra\u00fal Guti was sent off for a second booking, the Brazilian winger then put the result beyond doubt in the 73rd.
\nElche substitute Pere Milla pulled one back with four to play, but it was not enough to keep his side unbeaten at home this campaign.
\nThe 21-year-old Vin\u00edcius once again showed his much-improved finishing. The double took his tally in all competitions to nine in 14 appearances this season, compared to six goals in 47 outings in 2020-21.
\n\u201cThis is thanks to the work I have been putting in since I arrived,\u201d said Vin\u00edcius, who debuted for Madrid aged 18 after the club had secured his transfer from Brazil\u2019s Flamengo when he was 16.
\nReal Sociedad is level on points with Madrid before it hosts Athletic Bilbao in a Basque Country derby on Sunday. After that, Madrid will still have a game in hand.
\nCarlo Ancelotti rested Benzema ahead of Madrid\u2019s Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday.
\nMadrid\u2019s only victory in its previous four league games came last weekend when it won 2-1 at Barcelona.
\nMariano D\u00edaz played his first minutes of the season in Benzema\u2019s place. The rarely-used striker showed his reflexes were still sharp when he used his heel to knock a pass from Casemiro into the path of Vin\u00edcius for him to fire under Kiko Casilla.
\nElche almost equalized thanks to Lucas Boy\u00e9. The striker stole the ball from David Alaba in the box, only for Lucas P\u00e9rez to waste a back-heeled pass by Javier Pastore that left him alone with only Thibaut Courtois to beat.
\nElche was pressing for an equalizer when Guti made a dangerous tackle on Toni Kroos and was sent off in the 63rd.
\nVin\u00edcius finished Elche off when he chipped the ball over Casilla from a tight angle after Luka Modric played him clear with one touch.
\nMilla scored against the flow of play when Casemiro\u2019s pass near his area was intercepted, leaving the forward alone to beat Courtois.
\nMadrid lost forward Rodrygo in the opening minutes to what appeared to be a leg injury.
\nLater, Barcelona plays its first match since the firing of Ronald Koeman when caretaker coach Sergi Barjuan leads the team against Alav\u00e9s at Camp Nou. Sevilla can pull level with Madrid and Sociedad if it beats Osasuna, while Villarreal visits Valencia.
\nOn Sunday, Real Betis can also pull level with Madrid and Sociedad if it beats Atl\u00e9tico Madrid. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BARCELONA, 30 Oct: Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior took over the scoring duties from Karim Benzema by netting twice to help Real Madrid win 2-1 at 10-man Elche on Saturday and move to the top of the Spanish league standings. Vin\u00edcius opened the scoring with a 22nd-minute strike. After Elche midfielder Ra\u00fal Guti was sent off for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-175538","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175538\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}