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Valencia went ahead in the 66th minute with a thumping low
strike from forward Hugo Duro, who spent last season on loan
with Madrid.
Real levelled with a deflected strike from Vinicius in the 86th
and then the Brazilian turned provider, crossing for Benzema to
head home the winner in the 88th.
Valencia would have gone top had they held on for the win but
instead Carlo Ancelotti's Real side lead the standings on 13
points from five games, with the hosts third on 10.
"It's never easy to come here especially when you concede the
first goal but we never gave in, we kept working and kept
persisting," said Vinicius.
"We've got a great result here thanks to the work of the whole
team and things are coming off for us right now."
The win was on the back of another Real late show in midweek
when Brazilian forward Rodrygo struck in the 89th minute to
secure a 1-0 victory at Inter Milan in their first Champions
League group game.
Valencia had made a strong start to the season under new coach
Jose Bordalas but suffered a setback in the build-up to kick off
when captain Jose Gaya was ruled out injured.
More problems followed as midfielder Carlos Soler, who scored a
hat-trick of penalties in last season's fixture against Real,
came off injured in the 15th minute while right back Thierry
Correia soon followed him in hobbling off in the 23rd.
But Bordalas' side still managed to outrun and overpower their
opponents for most of the game and took a deserved lead when
Duro swivelled to send a bouncing ball beyond the reach of
keeper Thibaut Courtois and into the net.
Valencia continued to cause Real problems but eased off in the
final 10 minutes and the visitors made the most of their deadly
firepower, Vinicius scoring his fifth goal of the season and
Benzema netting a sixth after bagging a hat-trick against Celta
Vigo last week.
"We know what Real Madrid are like, we know they can turn the
game around at any stage," said Duro.
"We had a tough game, we got two early injuries but still
managed to go ahead then the victory escaped from our grasp and
they made us pay in two isolated moves. We were very unlucky to
not at least get a draw today."
(Reporting by Richard Martin; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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