Saturday, November 6, 2021 at 10:51 PM• Jeroen van Poppel

Real Madrid made no mistake in the Spanish title fight on Saturday night. Carlo Ancelotti’s team showed a strong appearance at home against Rayo Vallecano, but made too little use of the many opportunities created. Real’s victory was therefore still under heavy pressure, but was still won thanks to Toni Kroos, who took a ball off the line in injury time. The Royal takes over the lead in LaLiga from Real Sociedad, which has two points less due to the win.

Real made his attacking intentions clear from the starting signal and Vinicius Júnior tapped in after six minutes, but the Brazilian was unlucky that declarant Karim Benzema had been offside. A low cross by Marco Asensio was then not appreciated by Benzema, who shot high over. A minute later, Asensio again gave a low lead and the ball ended up at Kroos, who rode it hard into the top corner from the bounce: 1-0.

Rayo had little to contribute, but he did get a good chance after the opening goal. Randy Nteka, however, headed straight into the hands of Thibaut Courtois. In the 38th minute, Real’s constant pressure led to another goal. A measured cross from David Alaba passed Rayo’s defense and reached the far post for Benzema, who only had to run into it: 2-0. Vinícius then saw a dangerous shot tapped out of the corner, after which Benzema headed over in the rebound.

Shortly after the break, Vinícius again made his mark. The wing striker slalomed wonderfully past three defenders and tapped the ball next to goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski. It would have been a world goal, had it not been for the fact that Óscar Valentín shot the effort Vinicius out of the goal mouth at the last minute. Real kept pushing and should have ended the game. Marco Asensio’s marker, however, could not surprise Dimitrievski, while Benzema narrowly missed the goal after Vinicius’ great heel.

Rayo thus remained manageable and the visitors continued to believe in it. Bebe dribbled threateningly towards Real’s goal fifteen minutes before the end and shot the ball onto the post. A minute later, Radamel Falcao managed to nod in a cross from Álvaro García: 2-1. A hefty setback for Rayo was that Falcao, who had only just entered the field, had to be replaced shortly afterwards with an injury. Rayo looked for the equalizer in the final phase and came very close via Valentín, who saw his bet removed from the line by Kroos. Courtois then saved on a hard long shot from Isi Palazon.