Real Madrid 4-2 Granada: Hazard scores first goal as Zidane's men hold on

Posted Sunday, October 06, 2019 by Goal.com

Real Madrid 4-2 Granada: Hazard scores first goal as Zidane's men hold on
Real Madrid held on to beat Granada 4-2 at the Santiago Bernabeu in Saturday's top-of-the-table clash in LaLiga.

Eden Hazard scored and assisted his first goals for Real Madrid as the LaLiga leaders held on to beat stubborn second-placed opponents Granada 4-2 to extend their lead at the summit.

The Belgium international lifted the ball over Rui Silva to get off the mark in his sixth match for the club, doubling the hosts' tally after Karim Benzema's early opener in Saturday's top-of-the-table clash at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Substitute Luka Modric added another from range for Madrid but surprise package Granada pulled one back from the spot after Alphonse Areola gave away a penalty, then Domingos Duarte set up a tense finale with his close-range finish.

Madrid have now won their last nine league meetings with Granada, scoring 32 goals in total, and it took them 102 seconds to find the breakthrough in this latest encounter.

Gareth Bale picked out Benzema with an outside-of-the-boot pass and the France international made no mistake with his first-time finish from seven yards.

Granada goalkeeper Silva was equal to attempts from Dani Carvajal and Federico Valverde, but he was unable to keep out Hazard's delightful effort at the end of the opening period.

Modric, brought on as a first-half substitute for the injured Toni Kroos, scored the goal of the match with an arrowed drive into the top-left corner just after the hour mark, only for Darwin Machis to pull one back after Areola brought down Carlos Fernandez in the box.

Duarte then turned in a flick-on from close range, but Madrid killed off any hopes of a memorable Granada comeback when James swept a side-footed finish into the bottom-right corner at the end of a counter-attack.