Ramon Azeez started and played only 50 minutes but could not do much as Los Blancos recovered from a disappointing night in Europe to hammer Granada 4-2 in La Liga at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday afternoon.
First half goals from the ever reliant Karim Benzema and a first ever goal in white for Eden Hazard plus a fierce drive from Modric and a late James Rodriguez goal set Madrid on their way to a thrilling victory and hand Real only their third home win of the season. However, Granada refused to lie down defeated with the away side nearly pulling off a remarkable comeback.
Real Madrid looked the considerably better side in the opening 45 minutes as they dominated in terms of both possession and opportunities created, finishing the half with 60.5 per cent of the possession, while they had 10 attempts on goal compared to Granada’s two.
Les Merengues raced into an early lead when Bale’s sublime cross picked out Benzema at the back post and the striker bundled the ball into the net.
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Carvajal then had two good opportunities for Real Madrid later in the half, while Granada’s best chance saw Soldado fail to divert home Puertas’ shot.
The La Liga leaders then extended their advantage on the brink of half-time as Hazard lobbed the goalkeeper following a clever through ball from Valverde.
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With an hour gone, Modric made it 3-0 to Real Madrid with an excellent strike. Hazard cut inside from the left flank before laying it off to Modric some 30 yards from goal, which the Croat arrowed into the top left-hand corner.
Shortly however, Granada pulled one back from the penalty spot, earned after Areola caught Machis’ leg as he attempted to pass the ball. Machis duly sent his strike into the bottom left-hand corner, beyond the reach of Areola.
With barely ten minutes to go, Granada were back in it, as Duarte made it 3-2. A corner delivered from the right was nodded on by Diaz at the front post, and Duarte latched on to the loose ball to poke the ball into the back of the net.
It was to set up an end to end finale and deep in stoppage time, substitute James Rodriguez added gloss to the full time scores on a fantastic day for Zinedine Zidane side.
