Real Madrid 4-1 Elche: Rudiger 39, Valverde 44, Huijsen 66, Guler 89; Angel 85 o.g.
Fresh from dismantling Manchester City at this same venue in midweek, Real Madrid initially looked sluggish against a struggling Elche side that hadn’t won in 11 matches. But then they found their rhythm, led by that man Federico Valverde, who helped create the opener and then scored the second as Madrid proceeded to run riot.
Elche’s game plan at the Bernabeu was expectedly to sit deep and frustrate the hosts, and so they did for much of the opening period, with penalty appeals from Fran Garcia and Aurelien Tchouameni waved away by the referee.
But the deadlock was broken when Valverde’s free kick proved too hot for Matias Dituro to handle, and when Elche failed to clear, Antonio Rudiger volleyed home.
Within five minutes, the home side had doubled their advantage. Valverde himself initiated the move with a surging run from deep, exchanging passes with Garcia on the left flank, and receiving the ball back on the edge of the area. With a clever feint, he sold the defender a dummy before switching to his right foot and bending beyond Dituro.
After the European hat-trick this was a continuation of the Valverde show. Brahim Diaz squandered a golden opportunity to add a third shortly after the restart, blazing over when clean through on goal, but there was teenage substitute Daniel Yanez active six minutes after the hour to cross for Dean Huijsen, who rose to break Dituro’s heart once more with a header.
With the hosts 3-0 up it was all over. Elche grabbed a consolation five minutes to the end of normal time when Manuel Angel inadvertently turned a low cross into his own net, but Madrid had the final word. Four minutes later, Arda Guler lofted the ball from distance over the stranded Dituro to complete the goalkeeper’s misery.
