Covid-stricken Real Madrid gets thrashed by Valencia

The Video Assistant referee (VAR) worked against Real Madrid CF on Sunday night as Carlos Soler scored three penalties for Valencia in their 4-1 thrashing of the reigning La Liga champions.

Karim Benzema took the early lead for the visitors with a long range strike in the 23rd minute. Soler's first penalty served as the equaliser for Valencia, which he had to retake due to an encroachment in the area. The spot kick was awarded after Lucas Vazquez was deemed to have handled the ball.

Raphael Varane gave Valencia the lead through an own goal. The Frenchman sent the ball over his head and across the line. It took a lengthy VAR review before the goal was finally awarded to Valencia. Soler then further widened the gap with another spot kick. The second penalty of the evening resulted from a Marcelo foul on Maxi Gomez.

The third penalty was awarded to the hosts following a Sergio Ramos handball. Soler completed a hat-trick of penalty kicks, which buried the reigning champions 4-1. According to the BBC, Soler is only the third player in La Liga history to score from three penalties in a game.

Real Madrid now sits in fourth place in the La Liga table, with a game in hand against leaders Real Sociedad and second place holders Villarreal.

Zinedine Zidane's side is four points adrift from the top coming into the international break. However, they will be relieved to have some time away from La Liga, as this will hopefully allow their Covid-19 stricken players to recover.

Last week, eder Militao tested positive, and just this weekend, both Casemiro and Eden Hazard also tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease.

Lone scorer Benzema added to Zidane's problems, as he failed to finish the game against Valencia due to injury. With a massively depleted squad, Real Madrid will be hoping to use the international break to their advantage. The club will be looking forward to getting some players back in shape before they return to active club competition.