Barcelona must appreciate matching the club's record of nine wins and a draw in their first 10 games of a Liga campaign, especially after Real Madrid's defeat at Girona, coach Ernesto Valverde told a news conference on Monday.
The draw interrupted a run of four straight league wins for Zinedine Zidane's side and left them second on 67 points after 31 games, three behind leaders Atletico who thrashed Eibar 5-0 earlier in the day.
Luka Modric pulled one back for Zinedine Zidane's shellshocked side with a brilliant strike from distance early in the second half before substitute Vinicius Jr reduced the deficit to one goal.
Images from Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
A round-up of Tuesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Centre forward Eder, who scored the winning goal in the Euro 2016 final against France, was among 10 players from that squad omitted from Santos's list. Other unlucky players included midfielders Andre Gomes and Renato Sanches, forward Nani and defender Eliseu.
Barcelona closed in on the La Liga title by thrashing local rivals Espanyol 5-0 on Sunday as Atletico Madrid dropped out of the race after losing 2-1 at Levante and Real Madrid beat Valencia 3-2.
Manchester City squandered a three-goal lead to draw 3-3 with Feyenoord in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Paris St Germain suffered their first defeat of the season when they were beaten 2-0 at Stade Rennais on Sunday to drop their first Ligue 1 points of the season.
Former Real youth player Joselu pulled a goal back for Alaves in the 59th minute, powering in a header from a free kick, but Benzema rounded off the victory for second-placed Real with an exquisite solo run and goal in the 70th minute.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said he was disappointed that he was only asked about the referee's decisions after his side earned a 2-1 victory at Real Sociedad on Sunday to climb above Barcelona and top La Liga.
Images from the football matches played across Europe on Sunday
A round-up of Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Liverpool thrashed Atalanta 5-0, Real Madrid boosted their chances of reaching the Champions League knockout stages with a 3-2 home victory over Inter Milan and Bayern Munich came from behind to crush RB Salzburg 6-2.
Benzema, who has scored 30 goals in all competitions for Real Madrid this season, has not played for France since 2015 after a blackmailing scandal over which he faces a trial in October.
The Portuguese forward then fired in the penalty in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
A round-up of Sunday's matches in La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga.
A round-up of Saturday's action in La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A.
A weekend of surprise results across Europe's big leagues saw Bayern Munich's unbeaten run come to an end, Napoli knocked off top spot in Serie A and Manchester City toppled in the Premier League where Leicester City are the new leaders.
A magical Lionel Messi goal, the first of a personal double, led treble-chasing Barcelona to a 3-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao in the King's Cup final on Saturday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Tuesday.
Cristiano Ronaldo ensured Atletico Madrid fans will have bitter memories of the last local derby at the Vicente Calderon stadium by scoring a hat-trick in a 3-0 win for La Liga leaders Real Madrid on Saturday. Ronaldo's deflected free kick put Real in charge in the 23rd minute in the first meeting of the teams since the Champions League final in May. The prolific Portuguese killed off Atletico's resistance by winning and converting a penalty in the 71st minute and capped a harrowing night for the home side by tapping in the third in the 77th.
Manchester City's quadruple bid remained intact as Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin de Bruyne secured a 2-0 win at Everton in their FA Cup quarter-final clash
A summary of Saturday's action in Ligue 1, La Liga and Serie A.
In other European football action Real Madrid were left frustrated after a goalless draw against Athletic Bilbao in their La Liga match on Sunday.
Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele scored twice and produced a mesmerising display to fire his side to a 5-1 win over Villarreal on Wednesday which stretched the champions' unbeaten run this season to 36 games with two remaining.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
A round-up of Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Images from the FIFA World Cup qualifier matches played on Tuesday night.
Lionel Messi netted the 400th goal of his storied career on Saturday as Barcelona trounced Granada 6-0 to maintain the pace at the top of La Liga.
Laxmi Negi/Rediff.com picks the very best players from what has been an outstanding tournament.
Villa's chief executive Christian Purslow said 10 first-team players are among 14 positive cases of coronavirus at the club.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo come face-to-face next month when Sweden meet Portugal in a World Cup playoff and they sharpened their claws with six goals between them on a thrilling night of Champions League action on Wednesday.
A summary of Saturday's action in La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga.
La Liga champions Real Madrid beat Getafe 3-1 on Saturday with a goal from Gareth Bale and two strikes from Cristiano Ronaldo to go 12 points behind leaders Barcelona and warm up for next week's Champions League game at Paris St Germain.
When Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri was greeted with a hail of eggs and spat at on his first day at work he could not have imagined he would lead them to the brink of an unprecedented treble of titles in his first season.
Benzema to stand trial in sex tape case, says lawyer.
Neymar's hat-trick lit up a powerful Brazil performance as the 32 nations taking part in this year's World Cup tested out their squads on a busy night of friendlies on Wednesday which also brought victories for Spain, Germany and France.
