Aiming to move level with rivals Barcelona at the top of the standings, Real Madrid dominated possession and territory early on but, despite the inventiveness of Yan Diomande and Arda Guler, found Valencia difficult to break down.
Having barely crossed the halfway line for almost 20 minutes, the hosts had the first shot on goal when Aaron Mayol intercepted a pass and fired from just outside the area, but Thibaut Courtois got fingertips to it.
From the resulting corner, Valencia had the ball in the net, yet Cesar Tarrega’s strike was quickly ruled out for offside.
However, Los Ches’ time on top was short-lived as Real Madrid imposed their authority with the half-hour mark approaching.
The defensive wall did its job by blocking a Kylian Mbappe free-kick but could only divert the ball to Federico Valverde, who drilled the ball low into the bottom corner to score his first league goal of the season.
Ten minutes before the break, Los Blancos turned the screw as Mbappe found Jude Bellingham on the left and, when the Englishman’s cutback took a deflection, it set up Guler to volley home.
The latter went close to a quickfire brace, only for Stole Dimitrievski to deny him and keep the match alive as a contest, before Diomande blazed over on the follow-up.
Still to trail at the break in LaLiga this season, Real’s advantage remained unthreatened after the restart.
Instead, Dimitrievski continued to turn the tide in his personal battle with Guler, smothering the ball when the Turkey international was played through one-on-one before the goalkeeper got a strong hand to a firm Mbappe strike.
The away side looked set to wrap up the points when Bellingham burst through challenges and took aim, but his strike was met by Dimitrievski’s outstretched leg.
As the match entered its final quarter, Arnaut Danjuma tested Courtois from a tight angle in a failed attempt to get the hosts back in contention, but not only was the goalkeeper equal to it, he played his part in Los Merengues adding a third soon after.
His long clearance was chased down by Guler, whose clever pass infield found Mbappe, and the forward rolled in his 13th league goal of the campaign.
The night then got worse for Javier Aguirre’s side, as Jose Gaya was shown a straight red card for a poor challenge on Mbappe.
With the extra man, Jose Mourinho’s side easily closed out a fifth away win in a row, while Los Murcielagos have suffered three successive home defeats to the Madrid side for the first time since Mourinho was last in charge.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Arda Guler (Real Madrid)
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