Real Madrid crush Atletico to claim stronghold on La Liga trophy

Real Madrid CF are on fire as they strengthened their grip on the 2021/22 La Liga Santander trophy on Sunday. Los Blancos manufactured a comfortable 2-0 victory over defending champions Atletico Madrid to extend their lead over the title holders to 13 points. The closest challengers are Sevilla, who trail by eight points plus a game in hand.

The Estadio Santiago Bernabeu bore witness to a brilliant 16th minute volley from Karim Benzema, who was thankfully able to return to action following an injury that had him limping off the pitch against Real Sociedad last week.

Marco Asensio sealed the victory in the second half, but despite not scoring any goals himself, Vinicius Junior was involved in both goals by providing assists for the two goalscorers.

Former Real Madrid teammate Marcos Llorente was given the task of marking the Brazilian, and he initially did well before Vini managed to shake him off by veering off to the right. Instead of endless dribbling and lack of composure up front, Vinicius proved once more that those days are behind him as he selflessly fed his teammates who were in better positions to score.

Atletico did fight back and even came close to an equaliser courtesy of a freekick from Antoine Griezmann. Thibaut Courtois had to make a good save to keep the ball out of his goal, but in the end he did enough to keep a clean sheet.

Diego Simeone tried to change things up at the half by taking off Griezmann and Yannick Carrasco in favour of Joao Felix and Thomas Lemar, but what little difference they made was not enough to topple Los Blancos.

Luis Suarez was unable to start for Atletico, and his introduction at the hour mark just after Asensio's goal did not produce any results.

The defending champions made a flurry of attempts in the end, but the Bernabeu fortress held on to the 2-0 lead and a massive psychological advantage as we approach the back end of the season. Furthermore, Ancelotti now has an abundance of talent at his disposal, with even the likes of Jovic making positive contributions. Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale are both watching from extremely expensive seats on the sidelines, and it remains to be seen if they will eventually make it back into the fold.