Real Madrid 2-0 Las Palmas: Player ratings as Brahim & Joselu contribute to win

Real Madrid cruised to a comfortable 2-0 win over Canary islanders Las Palmas in La Liga on Wednesday night, hardly needing to get out of second gear at the Bernabeu.

It was the perfect way for Carlo Ancelotti's team to bounce back from the Madrid derby.

Brahim Diaz broke the deadlock in first half stoppage time after an opening 45 minutes in which the hosts had been creative but were repeatedly frustrated by Las Palmas goalkeeper Alvaro Valles. Joselu doubled the advantage soon after half-time.

Madrid managed to carve out an excellent chance in the very early stages when pressure high up the pitch from Brahim forced a defensive mistake. The ball fell to Rodrygo in the middle of the box, but his shot was straight at Valles in the home goal – either side of the goalkeeper, it might have gone in.

Joselu forced a very similar save from the goalkeeper, although the offside flag was raised ensuring it wouldn't have counted anyway. But Valles was still equal to it when Joselu, this time not offside on the left of the box, was found by the advancing Antonio Rudiger.

Valles continued to frustrate Madrid when he got a strong hand to Nacho's cutback across the box and soon after performed an inch-perfect slide tackle on Brahim racing through on goal. He also kept strong palms when Nacho blasted straight at him from close range.

With no shortage of genuine chances, Joselu was denied twice more by Valles before the first half came to a close, once smothering when Federico Valverde picked the pocket of Eric Curbelo and fired across the box, and then with his feet from a low shot.

Despite Valles' heroics, it had been coming by the time Brahim's composed shot in first half stoppage time took a minor deflection and went high into the net. A