Athletic Bilbao 1-2 Real Madrid

Karim Benzema has now scored five league goals this season

A Karim Benzema double took Real Madrid to the top of La Liga as they beat Athletic Bilbao.

Benzema, who now has five league goals this season, seized on a short backpass from Mikel San Jose for his first.

Real goalkeeper Keylor Navas was four minutes away from breaking a 40-year club clean sheet record when Sabin Merino headed an equaliser.

Benzema tapped-in the winner for Real who moved ahead of Barcelona after they lost 4-1 at Celta Vigo.

Coach Rafa Benitez said: "Undoubtedly I'm happy because we won the game and I think the two halves were very clear and defined for us.

"Benzema is a great player, he is a different striker because he moves around the area and he is a very good partner for Cristiano Ronaldo. Our objective is that he scores 20-25 goals and he is going in the right direction, but he will also have to add assists to that."

Ronaldo remains three goals short of breaking Raul's club scoring record after failing to score.

The Portuguese went into the match on 321 goals for Real in all competitions, but he was left frustrated as a battling Athletic made Real work all the way for the points.

Goalkeeper Navas looked certain to set a new record for not letting in a goal for Real, having started the campaign with five consecutive clean sheets domestically and in Europe, until Merino's glanced header

But Benzema's second of the game, getting to Isco's cross just before Ronaldo, came minutes later to frustrate the hosts.

There were 15 passes in the build up to Karim Benzema's second goal