In the 17th round of La Liga, Real Madrid won 2-0 at home to Atletico. Benzema and Asensio scored, and Vinicius became the first player in a La Liga Madrid derby to have two assists in a single game since 2003.
■ La Liga
Real Madrid 2-0 Atletico
(16' Benzema, 57' Asensio)
16' Modric cut off Cork's pass at the back, Casemiro's direct pass, Kroos split on the right, Asensiosse ball, Vinicius crossed, Benzema volleyed sideways to make it 1-0.
35' Griezmann's free-kick from the right was lifted by Courtois.
After half-time, Benzema was replaced by Jovic, allegedly only because of the recent frequency of events and the overload of his body.
50' substitute Lemar's low cross from the left, Correa's back and Felix's low shot from the edge of the box was received by Courtois.
51' Felix cut inside from the left and Cunha's shot from a tight angle was deflected by Courtois.
57' Carvajal's long cross from the right, Kroos' header crossed, Jovic turned to get rid of the break, Vinicius cut in from the left and crossed low to the right, and Asensio swept his left foot into the bottom left corner, 2-0.
【Number Says】
[1] Asensio scored his first goal in 12 official matches against Atletico (2 for Espanyol; 10 for Real Madrid).
[2] Vinicius became the first player to have 2+ assists in a single game in the Madrid derby since 15 June 2003 (Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid 4–0 away to Atletico and Zidane assisted Ronaldo and Raul).
[2] For the first time since April, Asensio scored in two consecutive official matches.
[3] Benzema and Atletico have scored three goals in their last four official matches, just one goal less than the total number of goals scored in the previous 34 meetings.
[4] Real Madrid's first home game against Atletico Madrid has kept four consecutive clean sheets, with the goalkeeper Courtois (Atletico's 11 shots on target were all deflected, including 6 in the game).
[5] Benzema and Vinicius are the players with the most assists from each other in La Liga this season (Benzema 3 assists Vinicius, Vinicius 2 assists Benzema).
[8] Real Madrid have an eight-point lead, and in La Liga history, only one team has led by 8+ points but has not won the title (in the 2003-04 season, Real Madrid was 8 points ahead of Valencia with 12 rounds left).
[10] Real Madrid have won 10+ consecutive games for the fourth time in the past 10 years, followed by 10 consecutive wins in 2013 by Ancelotti, 22 consecutive wins by Ancelotti in 2014 (La Liga team record), and 10 consecutive wins by Zidane in 2020.
[11] Atletico Madrid have won 11 consecutive games against Real Madrid since February 2016 (1-0), with a record of 23 consecutive winless games from 2000 to 2013.
[12+7] Vinicius is the player with the most assists in official matches for La Liga this season (tied for 12 goals with Juan Mi, second only to Benzema with 18 goals) and the most assisted players (tied with Benzema and Trejo).
[18] Real Madrid led Barca by 18 points (42/24), the biggest advantage since the end of the 2007-08 season (85/67, also 18 points), and the biggest advantage in the first half of the league since the 2003-04 season (18 points in the 18th round, but 2 points behind Barca at the end of the league).
[18] Atletico have conceded 18 goals in 16 La Liga games this season, compared to 18 goals in 28 La Liga games last season and only 18 goals in Total in La Liga in 2015-16.
[20] Benzema has played 20 goals in the league this season (13 goals and 7 assists), second only to Salah (14 goals and 9 assists) in the top 5 leagues in Europe.
[36] Benzema surpassed 2019 (35 goals), setting an annual scoring record for individual club competitions (36 goals in 48 games), second only to Thierry Henry (2004/Arsenal/43 goals) in the history of Europe's four major leagues).
[42] Real Madrid scored 42 points in the first 17 rounds of La Liga this season, equalling the 2014-14 season (also coached by Carlo Ancelotti), second only to the 2010-11 season (44 points, Mourinho) and the 2011-12 season (43 points, Mourinho).
[45] Benzema scored 45 goals for club and national teams in 2021 (France 9 goals in 13 games), second only to Levan (66), Mbappe (49), Haland (47) and Cristiano Ronaldo (46). France's top 5 European leagues + national team goals in a single year: Fontaine 66 goals in 1958; Tsisowski 51 goals in 1956; Papen 51 goals in 1991; Mbappe 49 goals in 2021; 46 goals in 2004 Henry; 45 goals in 2021 Karnzema.
[367] Corker represented Atletico in 367 La Liga games, drawing with Thomas Regnones, second only to Adrado (401) in team history.
[600] The 29-year-old Alaba played 600 official matches in his career (including 38 games for the club's second team and 91 games for the national team).
Real Madrid squad (433): Courtois/Carvajal (81' Nacho), Militão, Alaba, Mendy/Modric, Casemiro, Kroos/Asensio (85' Valverde), Benzema (46' Jovic), Vinicius (87' Rodrigo)
Atletico Squad (442): Oblak/Marcos Llorente, Felipe, Condobia, Hermoso/Angel Correa (60' Suarez), De Paulo (69' Herrera), Cork, Carrasco (46' Lemar) / Griezmann (46' Felix), Cunha (60' Lodhi)
Sports Weekly all-media reporter Chang Shan