April 29, (THEWILL) – Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema scored a first-half hat-trick to lead his team to a 4-2 victory against Almeria at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.
The win enabled Madrid to move closer to Barcelona in the La Liga standings, taking advantage of the latter’s upcoming match against Real Betis. Benzema was the star of the match, receiving excellent assists from Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo, and clinching his hat-trick from the penalty spot.
Despite Girona and Rayo Vallecano’s victories earlier in the week against the top two La Liga teams, Madrid was able to take advantage of their opportunity and trim off numbers from Barca’s lead. Benzema opened the scoring after five minutes with Vinicius Junior providing the cross.
The Frenchman scored his second goal 12 minutes later with an assist from Rodrygo. He then completed his hat-trick after converting a penalty when tripped by Lucas Vazquez. Almeria managed to score twice through Lazar and Lucas Robertone, but Madrid remained in control.
Madrid is now just eight points behind Barcelona at the top of La Liga. They will face Real Sociedad next Tuesday, while Almeria will host Elche in their next match. Benzema’s hat-trick and Madrid’s victory will be a confidence booster for Madrid as they look to close the gap with Barcelona in the remaining games and finish the season on a high.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
