Starting for Real Madrid for the first time this season, Marco Asensio scored a hattrick as the Los Blancos handed Mallorca a 6-1 thrashing at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.

In Round 6 of the La Liga fixtures, Karim Benzema too piled on Mallorca’s miseries, scoring two and setting up Asensio twice. The Frenchman scored early in the third minute, after latching on to a loose ball. 

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Manager Carlo Ancelotti opted to rest a few of his usual starters as they were playing for the second time in a span of four days. Casemiro was rested while new signing Eduardo Camavinga started in his place. Meanwhile, Asensio was deployed in his new role — as a centre midfielder. 

This time, Real Madrid didn’t need to rely solely on Benzema and Vinicius Junior to keep winning in the league. Although it was the Frenchman who opened the scoring early on in the third minute. He again extended his league-leading tally of goals to eight after finding the back of the net in the 78th minute.

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Asensio had an instant impact in his new role as scored three neat goals and could’ve had a few more. He scored in the 24th, 29th and 55th minutes of the game. 

“I knew I had to take advantage of my opportunity to be in the starting lineup,” said Asensio, who didn’t celebrate his goals out of respect to his former club. “I’m happy that I was able to help the team stay in this very good dynamic. We are all very motivated, you can notice it.”

South Korean Lee Kang-in put Mallorca on the board in the 25th with the help of Takefusa Kubo, who is playing on a loan from Madrid.

However, Mallorca put too little resistance in place as Rodrygo and Vinicius ran the defence ragged. Francisco “Isco” Alarcón sealed the scoring after an assist by Vinícius in the 84th.

Benzema, who set up two of Asensio’s goal, had a goal disallowed by video review for a foul in the 49th.

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Meanwhile, substitute Luka Jovic, who has been struggling to enter the scoresheet at the capital city club, yet again failed to take his chances and open his tally for the season.

After today’s match, Madrid has outscored its opponents 21-6 in its first six league matches. It was only the second loss for mid-table Mallorca.

It was Madrid’s fourth straight league win, taking Ancelotti’s team back to the top of the standings with 16 points from six matches, two points ahead of defending champion Atlético Madrid.

With inputs from the Associated Press