Vinicius leads Real Madrid, Benzema gets hat trick, in 5-2 win over Celta

Madrid, Sep 12 (EFE).- Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in the Spanish capital was the scene on Sunday of a wild and thrilling 5-2 Real Madrid win over Celta, with Vinicius Junior setting the pace for the capital squad, a hat trick by Karim Benzema and the debut (with a goal thrown in) for Eduardo Camavinga, although the team’s serious defensive mistakes initially fed the hopes of their rivals for a road win.

The ingredients, however, were once more in place on Real Madrid’s home turf, with virtually all of the 19,874 fans cheering loudly and plenty of action – both good and bad – in the frenetic first half.

First, barely four minutes into play, it was Santi Mina who found the twine past goaltender Thibaut Courtois for an aggressive Celta after an error by Madrid’s Miguel Gutierrez that gave up the ball and although Vinicius twice almost tied things up quickly thereafter – with a header saved and another shot-on-goal deflected – it was Benzema who finally got the equalizer in the 19th minute after a good cross by Fede Valverde.

Then, 11 minutes later, Franco Cervi got the road team back on top with a nice finesse, once again easily beating Courtois and with Celta continually frustrating Madrid’s defensive attempts with cutting drives and in-your-face play although they never managed to score again. And that’s where matters stood at the break.

Despite Madrid’s troubles getting going in the first period, after the teams came back out onto the pitch Carlo Anzelotti’s boys got down to business for the comeback just one minute into play with Benzema trying another header and this time notching another equalizing tally after a perfect cross from Gutierrez.

Then, it was Vinicius who methodically moved in for the go-ahead goal in the 54th minute and Ancelotti in the 65th minute sent Camavinga in for Eden Hazard and he scored seven minutes later after Luka Modric tried a shot-on-goal that was saved.

Finally, it was Benzema again for the hat trick – and his fifth goal so far this season – after a penalty committed on Vinicius, who was in for the injured Gareth Bale, firing in the 5-2 in the 87th minute from the penalty spot.

Lineups:

Real Madrid: Courtois, Carvajal, Nacho, Militao, Miguel Gutierrez (Marcelo, m.89); Casemiro, Valverde, Modric (Marco Asensio, m.79), Vinicius (Rodrygo, m.89); Hazard (Camavinga, m.65) and Benzema.

Celta: Dituro; Hugo Mallo, Araujo, Murillo (Aidoo, m.89), Javi Galan; Tapia (Fran Beltran, m.46), Denis Suarez, Brais Mendez (Solari, m.52), Cervi (Nolito, m.63); Iago Aspas and Santi Mina (Gallardo, m.63).

EFE