A HAT-TRICK from Karim Benzema saw Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 in LaLiga on Sunday to bounce back from a disappointing draw at Leganes last time out.
Zinedine Zidane’s men were left seven points behind bitter rivals Atletico Madrid in second after their win over Eibar on Saturday, but Los Blancos just about did enough thanks to Benzema at the Santiago Bernabeu in a match that will not live long in the memory.
Madrid were especially poor and lacking in ideas against an Athletic side up for a scuffle during a woeful first half that did little to capture the imagination.
But the breakthrough did arrive early in the second half courtesy of the in-form Benzema, and he added two well-taken finishes late on to wrap up a fairly straightforward win over Champions League-chasing Athletic.
A frustratingly scrappy first half passed with precious little excitement, as Athletic’s attackers failed to link up particularly effectively and Madrid lacked cutting edge.
The most promising move at either end resulted in the only shot on target of the first 45 minutes just before half-time, as Raul Garcia’s header from a corner was easy plucked from the air by Keylor Navas.
Madrid quickly stepped things up after the break, however, as Benzema rose to meet Marco Asensio’s cross with a header that was too powerful for Iago Herrerin to keep out.
Benzema was taking the game to Athletic almost singlehandedly and went close again just before the hour, receiving Lucas Vazquez’s cut-back and putting a first-time effort agonisingly wide of the bottom-left corner.
The Frenchman found the target 13 minutes from time, however, nodding in a Luka Modric corner to make the most of Herrerin’s poor positioning.
And Herrerin was culpable again in stoppage-time, coming way out of his goal and botching a clearance, allowing substitute Gareth Bale to tee up Benzema to seal his hat-trick with a 30-yard finish into the open goal.
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Even when on the bench he didn’t get game time. The coach doesn’t like or trust him. Saturday once again showed just how wrong O’connor has been all season
O’Connor is just all wrong for Leinster.
He has a very big chance next season with Leinster during the World Cup, midfield won’t be as competitive so he should get a good run of matches.
Mark if Darcy doesn’t make the World Cup squad, he’ll play 12 with t’eo at 13. Then Madigan and sexton will be back so the midfield won’t be as easy to get into as you may think
That pop pass from O’Brien
Battle between him and Madigan for the 12 jersey next season.
It’s always to easy to see who coaches ‘just like/don’t like’. When Gopperth played badly it was ignored whereas when Madigan played mediocre or even if Reid played well decisions went against them.
It creates such a poisonous culture as some players start to feel entitled to spots and others feel it doesn’t matter how well they play they won’t get picked. Cody and Fergusson were masters at disregarding players identities and judging on match performance alone. MOC is such a stink manager.