Marco Asensio scored a hat-trick against former club Real Mallorca to help Real Madrid to a 6-1 win that lifted them back above Atletico Madrid at the top of LaLiga.
Mallorca youth product Asensio added to Karim Benzema s early opener and doubled his personal tally after Lee Kang-in had pulled one back for Mallorca in a lively first half to Wednesday s contest.
Making his first start of the season, Asensio curled in a delightful third before Benzema – who also assisted a couple of goals – and Isco rounded off a thumping victory for Los Blancos at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Madrid have now collected 16 points from their opening six matches, making this their best start to a season at this stage since 2013-14 when Carlo Ancelotti was last in charge.
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden)
Benzema scored a late winner for Madrid in their victory against Valencia last weekend and opened the scoring inside three minutes, nicking the ball off Josep Gaya s toes before racing through and coolly sliding past Manolo Reina.
Asensio put Madrid on course for a sixth successive home league win against Mallorca 21 minutes later with a close-range finish after Rodrygo s pass was deflected into his path.
Mallorca took just 71 seconds to respond, however, as Matthew Hoppe picked out Lee and the South Korea international got the better of Thibaut Courtois.
But Asensio raced through to restore Madrid s two-goal lead and nearly completed his hat-trick moments later with a shot that Martin Valjent blocked on the line.
Benzema set up Asensio s second goal and thought he had further extended Madrid s lead early in the second half, only for VAR to rule it out for a push on Joan Sastre.
It did not take much longer for the fourth Madrid goal to arrive, though, as Asensio curled a shot away from Reina into the bottom-left corner for his first Madrid treble.
Madrid did not let up as Benzema controlled a David Alaba pass with his back and fired a deflected shot past Reina in the 78th minute.
The Mallorca keeper had to pick the ball out of his net once again six minutes later when Vinicius Junior teed up Isco for a simple finish.
What does it mean? Madrid s unbeaten run goes on
Madrid have not only made their best start to a season in eight years, they are also now unbeaten in 24 league games in a run stretching back to January.
Ancelotti s men have been made to work hard for some of their wins this term, but they were dominant against Mallorca and managed seven shots on target in the first half alone.
That tally climbed to 12 come full-time as Madrid eased to a win that moved them two points clear of reigning champions Atletico at the summit with six games played.
21 have scored 21 goals in six games in 2021/2022, their best total at this stage since the 1987/1988 season (26 goals). Overwhelming.
— OptaJose (@OptaJose)
Brilliant Benzema surpasses Ronaldo record
With his two goals which took him to 200 in LaLiga for Madrid and two assists, Benzema has now been directly involved in 15 top-flight goals this season.
That is the most of any player after six games in a LaLiga campaign this century, the Frenchman overtaking former team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo s record of 14 from 2014-15.
Marco makes most of Mallorca s horror defending
Madrid scored six goals and they may well have had double that number on another day as Mallorca gifted their opponents chance after chance.
Asensio was the biggest beneficiary as he became the sixth Spanish player to score a hat-trick for Madrid in LaLiga this century and the first since Alvaro Morata in April 2017.
What s next?
LaLiga leaders Madrid host Villarreal on Saturday, while Mallorca are home to Osasuna the following day.
