Real Madrid rode a strong second-half performance to a 3-0 win over Valencia at the Alfredo Di Stefano stadium on Thursday night.
A pair of goals from Karim Benzema and one by Marco Asensio, who was coming back from an 11-month injury layoff, were all Los Blancos needed to secure the three points as they played at their training base with the Santiago Bernabeu undergoing construction.
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Madrid entered the day trailing Barcelona, who beat Leganes 2-0 on Tuesday, by five points in the table and saw a great early chance go begging when Eden Hazard was denied from close range after being played in on goal.
Valencia then had a Rodrigo goal ruled out just after the 20-minute mark after a VAR check overturned the strike for offside in the buildup.
The visitors continued to apply pressure and Geoffrey Kondogbia forced a fine save from Thibaut Courtois just before half-time with a piledriver of a shot from outside the area as the match remained goalless at the break.
The hosts found their opener just after 60 minutes with a nice team move as Hazard flicked a Luka Modric pass on to Benzema to slot past Jasper Cillessen in the Valencia goal.
Real would double their lead in the 75th minute when Asensio buried his shot from a Ferland Mendy cross with his first touch of the match after coming on as a substitute.
Asensio then set up the third with a clever pass from a counter-attack that Benzema flicked over a defender before volleying home a golazo for his second of the game.
The result puts second-placed Madrid on 62 points, five behind leaders Barcelona, while Valencia remain in eighth place on 43 points.
Source: espn.co.uk