Two goals in the space of four minutes from Nacho and Marco Asensio secured a 2-0 LaLiga win for Real Madrid at Cadiz on Saturday.
Los Blancos dominated the game at Estadio Nuevo Mirandilla but were wasteful until Nacho opened the scoring with his first goal of the season after 72 minutes.
Asensio added a second soon after as Carlo Ancelotti’s side moved 10 points behind leaders Barcelona at the expense of relegation-threatened Cadiz.
Ancelotti omitted Vinicius Junior and Toni Kroos ahead of the Champions League clash at Chelsea on Tuesday, while Luka Modric came off the bench late in an ultimately comfortable win.
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Madrid started strongly but they were almost behind against the run of play when Cadiz captain Alfonso Espino let fly with a left-foot strike that rattled the far post.
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Asensio and Karim Benzema were denied by alert Cadiz goalkeeper David Gil, although Los Blancos wanted a penalty for a tug on their captain before he got his shot away.
A left-foot shot from Benzema bounced down to safety off the crossbar after Rodrygo burst into the box from the left and Dani Ceballos’ volley from a corner was palmed over by Gil as Madrid failed to find a first-half breakthrough.
Rodrygo was unable to beat Gil after racing clear early in the second half before the forward inexplicably side-footed wide from six yards out when Federico Valverde presented him with an open goal.
Madrid continued to dominate and Valverde wasted a glorious chance to break the deadlock after Asensio showed great awareness and quality to pick him out with a quickly taken corner.
With Madrid’s frustration mounting, Nacho produced a quality right-foot finish from 20 yards out to finally open the scoring.
Asensio then cut in from the left to finish off with a slick move with a composed finish, sealing a deserved win.