Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema struck an added time winner as the visitors recovered from two goals down to beat title rivals Sevilla 3-2 in a thrilling La Liga clash on Sunday that took Carlo Ancelotti’s side a step closer to winning the title.
The victory means Real now have a 15-point lead at the top over second-placed Barcelona, who have two games in hand, and Sevilla in third with six rounds of matches remaining.
Benzema fired home two minutes into added time after Rodrygo and Nacho Fernandez had pulled Real level to cancel out Sevilla’s 2-0 halftime lead through goals from Ivan Rakitic and Erik Lamela at a packed Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium.
It was a tale of two halves as Sevilla dominated the first but disappeared after the break in a match that was marked by several controversial decisions by referee Guillermo Cuadra.
He declined to show Real’s Eduardo Camavinga a second yellow card for a foul from behind on Antony Martial after 37 minutes.
The referee also disallowed Vinicius Jr’s equaliser for Real for a marginal handball decision in the 78th minute, sticking by his call after being sent to the pitchside monitor by VAR.
Sevilla got in front early in the first half after two mistakes from Real defender Eder Militao in a four minute span.
First, Rakitic fired a free-kick through the Real wall to open the scoring in the 21st after Militao left a gaping hole and four minutes later the Brazilian let Jesus Corona run behind the defence to cross for the unmarked Lamela to make it 2-0.
After Camavinga’s close call for fouling Martial, Ancelotti brought off the young French midfielder at the break for Rodrygo, a move that changed the game in Real’s favour as the Brazilian gave a superb performance off the bench. He scored Real’s first goal five minutes into the second half, started the move that ended with fellow substitute Nacho netting the second in the 82nd and 10 minutes later crossed for LaLiga top scorer Benzema to fire home the winner. It was Benzema’s 25th goal this season, his best tally in a single league campaign in his Real career - surpassing the 2015-16 season when scored 24.