• Real Madrid beat Elche at Santiago Bernabeu.
• They restore an eight-point gap to leaders Barcelona.
• Real is currently in second place in the La Liga standings with 48 points.

Karim Benzema struck two goals on penalties as Real Madrid blasted bottom-placed Elche at Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday to restore the eight-point gap to leaders Barcelona.

During Real’s easy 4-0 victory, Luka Modric and Marco Asensio also scored goals in each half to reduce their arch-rival Barcelona’s advantage of eleven points.

Real is currently in second place in the La Liga standings with 48 points after 21 games after winning the Club World Cup in Morocco on Sunday for a record fifth time.

Madrid totally controlled the visitors throughout the game with Asensio breaking the deadlock in just eight minutes when he surged past Elche’s defence and struck a low drive into the bottom left corner.

After 30 minutes, after Enzo Roco handled Benzema’s header in the box, the Ballon d’Or winner converted from the penalty spot to double the advantage.

The French forward made it 3-0 before half-time through another penalty, handed to Real for a foul on forward Rodrygo.

Benzema now has 11 league goals for the season, three fewer than Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski, the league’s leading scorer.

Ten minutes before the end, Modric completed Real’s slaughter by smacking a shot from the edge of the box into the upper left corner.

The current La Liga champions Real’s next game is on Sunday against Osasuna.

Also Read

Karim Benzema is “motivated and passionate,” Carlo Ancelotti says

Carlo Ancelotti says Karim Benzema is "driven and passionate". Frenchman was banned...