Saturday, October 22, 2022 at 10:56 pm• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 23:03

Real Madrid continued their fantastic start in La Liga on Saturday. Carlo Ancelotti’s team had a hard time with Sevilla without Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema, but still stepped off the field as the winner due to two late goals. Federico Valverde, the man in form, scored for the third game in a row from outside the box, and again beautifully: 3-1. Real are unbeaten with 31 points from 11 matches, equaling the best start to the season ever in the Spanish league. Sevilla is disappointingly fourteenth.

Ancelotti made three changes at Real: the recovered Thibaut Courtois returned under the bar, while Ferland Mendy came in for Antonio Rüdiger. Benzema was present to show his Ballon d’Or at the Santiago Bernabéu, but was unable to play due to an injury. Aurelién Touchaméni entered the squad in midfield, allowing Valverde to move to the right side of the attack. Rodrygo was moved to the point of attack. At Sevilla, Isco, who played for Real for nine years, was in the attack together with Erik Lamela.

Benzema shows the Ballon d’Or to the Real Madrid audience.

The game was less than five minutes away when Real took the lead. Vinícius Júnior intercepted the ball in a dangerous place and kept a good overview. His ball wide was easily tapped in by Luka Modric: 1-0. The home side could have decided it in the first half, but David Alaba fired a dangerous free kick just wide of the crossing. A much bigger chance followed just before half-time for Vinícius, who came one-on-one with Yassine Bounou with some fortune. The Real attacker dragged the ball too far in front of him in an attempt to get around the goalie.

???????????????????? counter from Real! ?? Sevilla hands in the ball and within a few seconds it is in the goal ?? De Koninklijke takes the lead again on the basis of the substitutes! ??#ZiggoSport #LaLiga #RealSeville #MOTD pic.twitter.com/dCjAyjXDbr

— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) October 22, 2022

Real looked unconcentrated after the break and got the lid on their nose in the 54th minute. A perfect pass from Gonzalo Montiel was appreciated by Lamela, who beat Courtois from a difficult angle: 1-1. Real looked for the attack again and seemed to score twenty minutes before the end. Vinícius now passed Bounou, but tapped the ball into the side net from close range.

???????????? Valverde! ?? What a ???????????? ?? The Uruguayan is well on his way to fulfilling his bet with his coach with his sixth goal of the season, and Real could be looking for a new net ??#ZiggoSport #LaLiga #RealSeville #MOTD pic.twitter.com/ohCDlIcIUY

— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) October 22, 2022

Ancelotti intervened by making a triple substitution in the 77th minute and saw that work out excellently. Less than 120 seconds later, Real countered to the winning goal. Substitute Marco Asensio launched Vinícius, who gave Lucas Vázquez a goal with a simple wide ball, also a substitute: 2-1. The icing on the cake came from Valverde, who scored 3-1 with a beautiful diagonal shot from outside the penalty area. A minor blemish on the victory is that Valverde stumbled out of the field afterwards.