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Real Madrid responded to their disappointing goalless draw with Real Betis last week with an emphatic 4-0 win over SD Eibar away at the Ipurua Municipal Stadium.
With the rain pouring down heavily in Eibar, Karim Benzema needed just 17 minutes to open the scoring, converting with his left foot from an acute angle after Eibar had failed to clear their lines.
Three minutes later, skipper Sergio Ramos continued in his role as designated spot-kick taker and sent Marko Dmitrovic the wrong way to put Real Madrid 2-0 up, but passed over the responsibility to Karim Benzema for the next penalty and the Frenchman got his brace in the 29th minute.
Federico Valverde put the icing on the cake right on the hour mark when he converted from the edge of the area after being set up by Luka Modric and Real Madrid would head into the international break full of confidence.
The win moves the Los Blancos temporarily top of the table and here, we shall be highlighting three talking points from the fixture.
#3 Real Madrid put up arguably their best performance of the campaign
It has been a stop-start campaign thus far for Real Madrid, with convincing results like their wins over Sevilla and Leganes interpolated with debilitating defeats to PSG and Mallorca.
They came into this fixture off the back of an impressive 5-0 win over Galatasaray in midweek to boost their chances of qualification to the knockout rounds.
Despite their struggles, Real Madrid are one of the best sides in Europe and once they get into full gear, there are only a handful of teams that can handle them and Eibar were first-hand witnesses of this.
From the blast of the whistle, the visitors seized the initiative and when Karim Benzema put them ahead, there was never any doubt about the destination of the three points.
Eden Hazard was almost unplayable, Benzema got a brace, Luka Modric dictated the tempo of the game from the middle, Sergio Ramos rolled back the years to put in a no-nonsense display at the back.
Youngster Federico Valverde continued his upward trajectory from recent weeks and was the man-of-the-match in a convincing display at the base of midfield and deservedly got the goal his performance merited.
The one sore point for Zinedine Zidane would have been the performance of Isco who despite coming on from the bench did not show enough zeal and hunger to win back his starting shirt and looked off the pace with a couple of misplaced passes.
After their disappointing showing last week at the Bernabeu, Zidane would have sought a response from his players and he got just that, with his team putting in what was a five-star display to leave the hosts with no chance of getting anything in front of their fans.
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#2 Clean sheet run for Thibaut Courtois continues
Thibaut Courtois caused a real storm when he wanted to depart Chelsea for Real Madrid, going as far as refusing to show up for training in a bid to force the issue.
He finally got his dream transfer, signing for the Spanish giants in the summer of 2018, but was one of the players most culpable in a poor run of form that finally cost Julen Lopetegui his job.
Things marginally improved for the team, but their Belgian goalkeeper was still on the receiving end of criticism, and as much as he tried, he simply could not keep a clean sheet.
There was widespread criticism when Keylor Navas was released to join Paris Saint-Germain, with many of the opinion that he is a better goalkeeper than Courtois and with each passing week, this viewpoint seemed to hold water.
Courtois' departure at half-time in the 2-2 draw with Club Brugge in the Champions League got critics worrying that he was fazed by the weight of expectation and questioned his mentality to handle the pressures of being a Real Madrid player.
After sitting out the next fixture against Granada, Courtois was deployed in goal against Mallorca and conceded a 7th-minute goal to Lago Junior.
That was the last goal the Belgian international has conceded in a Real Madrid shirt and he has kept five consecutive clean sheets in all competitions since that reversal at the Iberostar.
This means that the former Chelsea man has now gone 522 minutes without conceding in competitive action and this is more than Keylor Navas managed in his five-year Real Madrid career.
After a shaky start, Real Madrid's defence is slowly taking shape and with another clean sheet posted against Eibar, Courtois would fancy his chances of winning over his detractors.
#1 Eden Hazard puts up a five-star performance
It's been six months since Eden Hazard completed his club-record transfer to Real Madrid, but he has not exactly had the explosive start to life at the Bernabeu that was expected.
The Belgian international had registered just one goal and assist from his first 11 matches in all competitions and many were beginning to question his value to the team.
Against Eibar, Hazard put in a masterclass of a performance, making up for his anonymous display against Real Betis and showed glimpses of what made him one of the most sought-after players in the world at Chelsea.
He showed great skill to win the penalty after being brought down in the box for Sergio Ramos to put Real Madrid ahead and set Lucas Vasquez on his way to winning another penalty with an exquisite pass after dribbling through the left flank.
With Real Madrid already in a comfortable lead, Hazard brought out the tricks from his arsenal and wowed the Bernabeu with a number of tricks and flicks, with the pick of the bunch being when he made a rabona cross midway through the first half.
In total, Hazard completed six dribbles which was significantly more than anyone else managed on the field, while he also posted an 86.5% pass accuracy.
In the second half, there was a drop in tempo from the Belgian skipper and he was substituted in the 71st minute for Vinicius Jr.
Hazard was almost unplayable against Eibar and the only thing missing from his performance was a goal, but notwithstanding, this was arguably his best display in a Real Madrid shirt and fans of the club would hope he can build from this.
