A solitary goal from Karim Benzema spared Real Madrid and moved his club to the top of La Liga with a nervy 1-0 win over Granada on Saturday.
Real had scored 15 times in its previous three matches, but it was grateful to some poor Granada finishing and controversial calls by the officials to claim all three points.
Benzema grabbed the only goal of the game nine minutes into the second-half with a cushioned header from Isco’s fine cross.
Victory provisionally moves Madrid a point ahead of Barcelona at the top of the table, with the Catalans not in action until Sunday when they host Levante.
The scene appeared to be set at a sunny Bernabeu for Cristiano Ronaldo to surpass Raul to become Madrid’s all-time to goalscorer.
There was even a special introduction for the reigning World Player of the Year as his mascot for the day was Zaid Mohsen, the seven-year-old Syrian refugee made famous when he and his father were tripped by a Hungarian camerawoman.
But the script didn’t play out. Instead, Madrid staved off a few surprising chances from Granada.
Marcelo was forced into a clearance off the Real goal line early on before Isaac Success fluffed his first of a number of opportunities when he failed to hit the target when unmarked at the back post.
Youssef El-Arabi did have the ball in the net for Granada moments later, but was wrongly ruled to have been offside.
The Andalusians were eventually made to pay for their profligacy in the second half, when Isco picked out Benzema for a simple header.
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