Real Madrid cruised into the international break leading the La Liga points table after they secured a hard-fought 2-1 victory against Rayo Vallecano on Saturday. 

The capital city side capped off a dominant first-half performance with two well-taken goals. Toni Kroos put Madrid ahead in the 14th minute with a thunderous strike after he was set up by a deflected Marco Asensio pass. However, the goal was initially ruled offside as Vinicius Jr appeared to be in the offside position, but after a VAR check, the goal was rewarded. 

After bagging an early lead, Madrid looked on course to outplay their city neighbours. In the 38th minute, Los Blancos doubled their lead when Karim Benzema was set up by a peach of a ball from David Alaba from the left flank. The Frenchman only had to tap the ball for his 10th goal of the season.

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However, Carlo Ancelotti and his men couldn’t kill the game off. Although they dominated possession and had way more chances, Madrid failed to break the Vallecano defence for the third time. Vinicius made an incredible run in the second half, when carried the ball from the halfway line and past three Vallecano defenders, only for the ball to be cleared off the line before rolling into the net.

Meanwhile, Benzema had another opportunity in the box after he was set up by two consecutive backheels from Ferland Mendy and Vinicius Jr. However, the La Liga topscorer scuffed the effort wide.

But Vallecano roared back in the final moments of the game, after Radamel Falcao equalised in the 76th minute from an Alvaro Garcia cross. The newly-promoted side had several late chances to equalise and even an effort that struck the Real Madrid goalpost. 

In another game, Barcelona gave up a 3-0 halftime lead to end up drawing it 3-3 against Celta Vigo in La Liga on Saturday in what was the final game for the Catalan giants before their new era under club legend Xavi Hernández began.