Helsinki: Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema made history on Wednesday as Real Madrid beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 to win the European Super Cup.
The Frenchman netted his side’s second goal of the match to lift his total number of goals for Real Madrid to 324, taking him past Raul Gonzalez to become the second highest scorer in the club’s history behind Cristiano Ronaldo.
As promised prior to the match, Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti started with the same 11 that beat Liverpool in the Champions League final in Paris back in May, while Eintracht went into the game on the back of a 6-1 defeat to Bayern Munich at the weekend and without star player Filip Kostic, who is on the verge of joining Juventus.
Madrid had most of the early ball, but the first big save of the match was made by their keeper, Thibaut Courtois, who continued his form of last season to deny Daichi Kamada after the forward had been set into space.
Madrid responded quickly with Vinicius Jr’s effort cleared off the line by Tuta after he had beaten Kevin Trapp, who then did well to tip Karim Benzema’s shot wide for a corner in the 37th minute, reports Xinhua.
The Eintracht keeper will have been frustrated when David Alaba tapped home from the resulting corner after headers from Benzema and Casemiro had left the Eintracht defense all at sea.
Madrid looked to add to their lead before their break, with Benzema firing wide when put through and Casemiro seeing his shot saved by Trapp.
Trapp was in action again early in the second half after Vinicius’ shot took a deflection off Benzema, but Eintracht were seeing more of the ball, with Jesper Lindstrom looking lively, before he was taken off in the 57th minute in a double change that saw Mario Gotze and Randal Kolo Muani get into the action.
Moments after the change, Casemiro rattled the Eintracht crossbar from around 20 meters and despite Eintracht’s possession, Carlo Ancelotti’s men looked comfortable and dangerous on the break.
Benzema’s goal came in the 65th minute, after a pass from Vinicius which he side-footed past Trapp and there was no way back for a willing, but ultimately, toothless Eintracht
–IANS
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