Home

Real Madrid stay in La Liga title hunt

Rik SharmaAAP
Alvaro Odriozola (r) celebrates his goal with Real Madrid teammates Luka Modric and Carlos Casemiro.
Camera IconAlvaro Odriozola (r) celebrates his goal with Real Madrid teammates Luka Modric and Carlos Casemiro. Credit: EPA

Real Madrid have earned a 4-1 win at Granada to keep their La Liga title defence alive.

Zinedine Zidane's side triumphed in Andalusia and moved to second, on 78 points from 36 games, two behind leaders Atletico Madrid.

Luka Modric fired Madrid ahead in the 17th minute and Rodrygo Goes doubled the lead with his first goal of the season as the visitors dominated.

Jorge Molina pulled a goal back for Granada but Madrid quickly restored their advantage through Alvaro Odriozola and Karim Benzema, who wrapped up the win from distance.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

"The only thing we can keep doing is chasing Atletico and hope they don't win," said Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

The Game AFL 2024

"We have to make sure they don't have any margin for error. They won and all we can do is look at ourselves, and focus on the difficult game at Athletic Bilbao, which is another final."

Atletico beat Real Sociedad on Wednesday to take control of La Liga and the title will be theirs if they win their remaining two matches.

Youngster Miguel Gutierrez was making his first start for Madrid and it was a game to remember for him as he fed a fine pass through for Modric to open the scoring.

Rodrygo's low finish just before half-time gave Madrid a commanding lead, but they slowed down in the second half.

Zidane's side is exhausted and at times it showed, with Los Blancos having suffered more injuries this season than their title rivals.

After Molina pulled a goal back, Madrid might have wobbled but substitute Eden Hazard set up Odriozola to blast home from inside the area.

Benzema's fourth settled the clash, with the Frenchman finishing from 35 yards out with Granada goalkeeper Rui Silva out of his area.

Elsewhere, Real Valladolid lost 2-0 at home against Villarreal, meaning they stay 18th, two points from safety, while bottom-of-the-table Eibar drew 1-1 with Real Betis and are three points behind 17th-placed Huesca.

Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.

Sign up for our emails