Real Madrid were guilty of complacency as they struggled to see off the lowly Rayo Vallecano at the Santiago Bernabeu at the weekend.
The French forward felt some discomfort on his left ankle towards the end of the game before signaling to the Madrid bench for a change.
Madrid will fly to Abu Dhabi on Sunday in preparation for the World Club Cup semi finals in which they will be coming up against Kashima.
The services of Karim Benzema will be needed because they would not have come out of the match against Vallecano without the French forward’s goal.
In truth, Real Madrid were far from their best for the second week in a row, as they failed to win Rayo convincingly even at the Bernabeu.
Madrid took the lead very early in the game, as Benzema latched onto a Lucas Vazquez perfectly weighted pass before firing one into the back of the opposition’s net. He drilled the ball past Stole Dimitrievski to record his 11th goal of the season in all competitions.
Vazquez had a glorious chance to double their lead but spurned it, shooting the ball straight at Dimitrievski. Rayo then had a chance of their own but Emiliano Velazquez couldn’t quite connect well with his header.
The game continued in the same vain and it was Real Madrid celebrating a victory at the sound of the final whistle, albeit a very unconvincing one.
Next up for Madrid is a World Club Cup match against Kashima.