Karim Benzema scored a first-half hat trick as Real Madrid recovered from a disappointing midweek loss at Girona by beating lowly Almeria 4-2 at home in LaLiga on Saturday.
With six-games remaining, second-placed Real maintained their slim title hopes by moving up to 68 points, cutting Barcelona‘s lead to eight points. Barcelona host sixth-placed Real Betis later on Saturday.
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Benzema opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a close range shot from a Vinicius Junior cross and extended Madrid’s lead 12 minutes later after a magnificent individual play by Rodrygo.
He netted his third from the penalty spot in the 42nd minute after Lucas Vazquez was fouled inside the box.
Lázaro tried to put Almeria back in the game by scoring from point-blank range three minutes later but Madrid extended their lead right following the break after Rodrygo rifled a shot from the edge of the box into the top left corner.
Madrid wasted several chances to extend their lead further with Rodrygo and Vinicius missing sitters from close-range and Benzema and Asensio hitting the post twice.
A Lucas Robertone header narrowed the deficit after Toni Kroos gifted the ball to the opposition inside his own box.
