Real Madrid vs Atletico result: Karim Benzema leads leaders past city rivals
Real Madrid 1-0 Atletico Madrid: Real extended their lead at the top to six points with Barcelona to play Levante on Sunday
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Karim Benzema fired Real Madrid to a 1-0 win in the city derby against Atletico Madrid on Saturday which underlined Real's La Liga title credentials.
The French forward side-footed home a cross from compatriot Ferland Mendy to break the deadlock in a tight game in the 56th minute after coach Zinedine Zidane had sprung a double substitution to give his team more width.
Benzema's strike gave Real their first home victory over Atletico in the league since 2012 and increased their lead over Barcelona at the top of the table to six points. Barca can reduce the margin to three if they beat Levante on Sunday.
Atletico are fifth and trail their local rivals by 13 points, while their injury problems deepened when striker Alvaro Morata limped off early in the second half with a suspected muscle problem.
Re-live the game as it happened:
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Luka Modric has completed 30/30 passes, the only player with 100% accuracy
Back underway at the Bernabeu.
Vinicius and Lucas Vazquez are on for Kroos and Isco.
Wow, I thought Kroos was one of the better players out there in that half.
Real Madrid 0-0 Atletico Madrid
46: Real Madrid have a little more width available to them now and seem to be playing a conventional 4-3-3.
Real Madrid 0-0 Atletico Madrid
47: Real Madrid have come out the traps the quicker side and Valverde forces Oblak into a full-stretch save with a cracking effort from range.
Valverde is quickly rising up my ranking of favourite footballers following his red card to deny Atletico in the final seconds of extra time. Some player.
Real Madrid 0-0 Atletico Madrid
50: Alvaro Morata's afternoon is cut short as he makes way for Thomas Lemar just five minutes into the second half.
Real Madrid 0-0 Atletico Madrid
51: Oh look, Ramos is arguing with the referee over a fairly mundane decision. Imagine my shock.
Real Madrid 0-0 Atletico Madrid
This is not good news for Atletico Madrid, who are desperately short of scoring options this season.
Real Madrid 1-0 Atletico Madrid
56: Benzema opens the scoring!
Vinicius starts a slicks Real Madrid move and Mendy's low cross is met by Benzema in the middle to side-foot the ball beyond Oblak to score his 18th of the season.
Real Madrid 1-0 Atletico Madrid
59: It's taken Real Madrid a while to find their best rhythm and Atletico had done fairly well in the first hour to keep their neighbours at bay, but the one-touch nature of that move allowed Zidane's side to slice through their opponents with ease.
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