Eden Hazard made his Real Madrid debut as Karim Benzema scored twice in a nervy La Liga win over Levante. Hazard, a summer signing from Chelsea F. C., has recovered from a muscle injury and came on after 60 minutes at 3-1.
Karim Benzema scored twice in a 3-2 win for Real Madrid at home to Levante on Saturday (Sep 14) as Eden Hazard came off the bench to make his debut for Los Blancos.
Zinedine Zidane’s side raced into a 3-0 lead in a dominant first half at the Santiago Bernabeu as Benzema netted twice and Casemiro added the third.
The French forward headed home from a Dani Carvajal cross to open the scoring after 25 minutes and the 31-year-old made it two not long after as he rounded off a lovely move.
Levante gave the ball away in midfield and Vinicius Junior played a pass from left for Benzema, who headed down for James Rodriguez and continued his run, receiving a return ball from the Colombian and beating Aitor Fernandez with a shot low inside the post.
Casemiro then made it 3-0 five minutes before the break when he slid in at the far post from a Vinicius cross after Lucas Vazquez had picked out the winger in space on the right.
Madrid were coasting at that point and looked on course for a comprehensive victory, but Borja Mayoral pulled a goal back early in the second half as Levante broke down the left and he slotted a low shot past Thibaut Courtois with his left foot.
Mayoral, on loan from Real, held his hands up in a sort of apology to the home fans and was applauded by both sets of supporters.
Zidane then sent on Hazard for his debut and the Belgian had a curler pushed wide by Aitor, while he also set up a good chance for Vinicius Junior.
The Brazilian had an effort ruled out for offside as well and James was off target with a couple of efforts as the game opened up, but there were spaces at the back after Casemiro and Sergio Ramos had both been taken off and Levante substitute Gonzalo Melero headed in at the far post following a corner to close the deficit to just one goal.
That was with a quarter of an hour left and it set up a nervy final few minutes as Madrid defended their slender lead and held on for a second win of the season (and first at home) to preserve their unbeaten start to La Liga and make it eight points from a possible 12 so far in 2019-20.
Los Blancos move provisionally into second, with Levante still in fifth for now after winning two of their opening three games.
