Casemiro has described Karim Benzema’s “incredible assist” that gave Real Madrid a 1-0 victory at Espanyol as “incredible”, while Zinedine Zidane believes it was even better than two similar and famous efforts by former player Guti.
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Madrid’s victory at the RCDE stadium on Sunday night placed them two points away from Barcelona’s rivals at the top of the La Liga table with six games to play.
Marcelo’s long ball was directed downwards by Sergio Ramos towards Benzema, who pushed the ball back between the legs of Espanyol defender Bernardo to present Casemiro with a short-range finish.
“It would be a little unfair to talk about my goal after what Karim did. We have to congratulate him, it is a high-level situation,” Casemiro said. “Meeting Karim is normal. He has the quality of a No. 10, not a No. 9. He is an incredible backheel. He is Karim’s goal.”
Benzema downplayed the wonderful help, inferring that the game was second nature to him.
“That is soccer. These things come to me, I see soccer like that,” Benzema told Movistar. “I knew Casemiro was going to run after me. He took it well.”
The French striker now has 17 goals and seven assists in La Liga this season.
“It is a really important victory,” he added. “I can’t say that we don’t look at Barcelona, we do, of course, but we are focused. Each game is a final.”
At his post-game press conference, coach Zidane was asked to compare the goal with two others in Real Madrid’s recent history: when Guti fell back to Benzema when the goal against Deportivo La Coruña ended in 2010, and when The same player split Sevilla defense for Zidane himself to score in 2006.
“I think that this [is the best]Karim, “said Zidane.” It is the most recent. The good thing is that it is a team move, Sergio with Karim’s head, control and backheel, and Casemiro knows that Karim can invent something. It is a beautiful team goal.
“We know that Karim is an impressive player and he shows it in every game … A player improves all the time and that is what happens to Karim. He is a good age, around 32 or 33 years old if you take care of yourself as he does , they are your best football years. “
Zidane denied that Real Madrid’s two-point advantage means they now have an advantage over Barcelona.
“This will be decided at the end of the season,” he said. “I always think about the league I won as a coach in 2017. We won it in the last game.” [a 2-0 win at Malaga]. The same will happen here. We are happy with five wins in a row, but nothing changes, we have six finals left. “
The title race will continue this week as Barça play Atletico Madrid in a high-profile match at the Camp Nou on Tuesday, before Real Madrid host Getafe on Thursday.
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