Madrid: A Marco Asensio-inspired Real Madrid crushed Eibar 3-0 to close the gap on La Liga leaders Barcelona to five points on Sunday, with Karim Benzema starting on the bench. Asensio forced an own goal and scored the second as Madrid moved up to third place with 20 points, one behind second-placed Valencia and one ahead of Atletico Madrid, who beat Celta Vigo 1-0 away thanks to a Kevin Gameiro strike. Asensio, picked ahead of France striker Benzema to partner a subdued Cristiano Ronaldo up front, sparkled as Real made light work of the visiting Basque side, who are 16th. Paulo Oliveira headed Asensio's cross into his own goal in the 18th minute, before the forward volleyed home the second goal 10 minutes later from Isco's ball. Zinedine Zidane made five changes from the Real side which drew 1-1 at home to Tottenham Hotspur in their Champions League group stage match on Tuesday.

Source: The Telegraph October 23, 2017 22:07 UTC