Eden Hazard scored his first goal for Real Madrid in Saturday’s La Liga encounter against Granada.
The Belgium international had produced a string of largely indifferent displays since returning from a hamstring injury sustained shortly after joining Madrid from Chelsea in a reported €100 million (£88.5m) deal in June.
But after failing to score or assist in his first five matches for the club, Hazard found the back of the net in the top-of-the-table showdown with Granada at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Granada were unable to clear under pressure and Federico Valverde poked the ball through for Hazard, who kept his cool and lifted the ball over the head of goalkeeper Rui Silva.
Hazard’s goal arrived in added time at the end of the first half, putting Madrid 2-0 up after Karim Benzema’s early opener.
In the second half, Hazard would pick up his first assist for Madrid when he laid off a pass to Luka Modric some 30 yards from goal.
From there the Croatian unleashed a fierce strike that found the corner from range, giving his side a three-goal advantage.
Hazard would be taken off after 69 minutes, replaced by Isco after the Belgian enjoyed his best game for his new side thus far.
Granada would go on to pull a goal back through Darwin Machis, who netted from the penalty spot to make it 3-1 with 20 minutes left to play.
Domingos Duarte would then get Madrid’s nerves going by scoring his side’s second of the day to cut the home side’s lead to 3-2.
But James Rodriguez would provide a late insurance goal as Madrid grabbed a 4-2 win over Granada, who were surprisingly in second place heading into the match, one point behind table-topping Real.
With the win, Real extended their lead to four points over Granada and Atletico Madrid and five points over Barcelona, with Atleti and Barca to play on Sunday.
Atletico will travel to face Real Valladolid, while Barcelona will host Sevilla at Camp Nou.
Up next for Madrid will be a trip to Mallorca on October 19 following the international break.
