Real Madrid extend La Liga lead as attacking trio gets more comfortable

Real Madrid CF managed to bounce back from their disappointing Champions League loss against Paris Saint-Germain. Over the weekend, they defeated Alaves in convincing fashion, 3-0, and managed to extend their La Liga advantage back to six points after Sevilla's draw against Espanyol.

The Estadio Santiago Bernabeu bore witness to a spectacular goal from Marco Asensio on Saturday night. The man from Mallorca initially received boos from the crowd after a clumsy back pass at the other end of the pitch. His mistake almost resulted in an Alaves goal when it was intercepted by Pere Pons, who could only send it into the side netting. Just moments later, Asensio redeemed himself with a stunning torpedo from the edge of the box that gave Los Blancos the lead in the 63rd minute.

Vinicius Junior then doubled the lead after finishing off a team goal that showed exactly how well the Real Madrid forwards are starting to connect with each other. The evening was not complete without a Karim Benzema goal, who converted a spot kick in stoppage time to make it 3-0.

It was a delightful second half for Carlo Ancelotti's men, but the crowd was still hurting from the PSG loss and the first half saw the Bernabeu resonating with jeers and whistles. The club lost away in Paris in midweek, and this was the first opportunity for the home crowd to let the team know exactly how frustrated they are.

Luckily, it lit a fire under the squad and they came away with three goals and a bit more breathing room in the race for the La Liga title.

Ancelotti opted for very late substitutions once more, with the starters already having done the work. The manager often faces a lot of criticism when his choices don't work out, but no one was complaining about the late substitutions this time, with victory already secured.

Real Madrid are not panicking about the second leg against PSG on March 9, but they will need good domestic results to keep the confidence high and to make sure they stay in a good position to secure La Liga.