Sublime Asensio stars in Madrid game as Los Blancos go seven clear

Marco Asensio's second-half stunner helped send Real Madrid seven points clear at the top of LaLiga with a 3-0 win over Deportivo Alaves.

Madrid, having been shut out by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League in midweek, struggled to break down Alaves for long periods at the Santiago Bernabeu.

However, it was Asensio who found a remarkable way through, breaking the deadlock in spectacular fashion in the 63rd minute with a curling effort into the top-left corner.

A late second from Vinicius Junior ensured earlier missed chances did not haunt Los Blancos, before Karim Benzema's stoppage-time penalty added gloss to a win that means the pressure is on Sevilla to trim the gap at the top back to four points when they visit Espanyol on Sunday.

Such was Madrid's lack of threat in the first half that a lofted effort from Federico Valverde that landed on top of the net following a throughball from Ferland Mendy represented their best chance of the opening period.

They improved after the interval, Fernando Pacheco forced to make a fine save to deny Vinicius after he was played in by Valverde, with Benzema's goal-bound follow-up cleared by a defender on the line.

Reward for Benzema

Asensio, though, ensured there was nothing Alaves could do to prevent him from opening the scoring in style with a career-best seventh LaLiga goal this season.

Benzema trickled an effort against the post as Madrid sought to put the game to bed, but he atoned for that miss as his wonderful build-up play with Asensio allowed the France star to tee up Vinicius for a simple finish to make the points safe.

Reward for another instrumental showing from Benzema came when he calmly converted from 12 yards after Florian Lejeune had fouled Rodrygo in the area.