Staff Reporter.
Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid twice came from behind to beat Celta Vigo in their first match at the Bernabeu in 560 days.
Benzema scored either side of a Franco Cervi strike after Santi Mina had given the visitors the lead on four minutes.
Vinicius Junior added a third for Real before teenager Eduardo Camavinga scored six minutes into his debut.
Benzema sealed his hat-trick with an 87th-minute goal as Carlo Ancelotti’s side moved top of La Liga.
“I feel good, I’ve got the support of the coach, the president, the players and the crowd,” Benzema said.
“It’s a special night for us with the fans here and the atmosphere. It was a little strange to be playing in front of fans again, but they got right behind us. We need their support and they gave us everything today.”
Despite ongoing construction work, 30,000 supporters were welcomed back to the Bernabeu as Los Blanco played their first match there since beating Barcelona in El Clasico on 1 March 2020.
“A really good night, almost everything went well. It wasn’t perfect, but above all the fans helped us a lot,” Ancelotti said after the match. “We lost the ball twice, and we have to work on that. In attack we were exceptional.
“Of course we have to improve [the mistakes], it make the game complicated for us. The reaction allowed us to win, but we mustn’t give those balls away. We need more balance. We’ll talk about what we didn’t do well.”
The victory moves Real to the top of the table on goals scored, level on points with Valencia and Atletico Madrid.