Real Madrid bounced back from their Supercopa de Espana lose to Atletico Madrid and kickstart their 2014/2015 La Liga season with a solid 2-0 victory over newly promoted Cordoba.
Benzema rose highest in the box to head home Toni Kroos' corner in the first half before Cristiano Ronaldo sealed the victory late in the second half when he drove a low long range shot past Cordoba's goalkeeper to make it 2-0 and hand his side a well deserved victory.
The victory gives the Carlo Ancelotti led team the right inspiration going into the season proper.
Big-money signings Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez were handed their League Debut by Carlo Ancelotti while Angel Di Maria who has asked to leave the club was left out of the squad on the night.
The European champions started on the front foot and Gareth Bale flashed a free-kick over the crossbar two minutes in. Ronaldo then saw his penalty appeals waved away, having claimed a nudge in the back from Jose Crespo.
One of Cordoba's close-season signings, Mike Havenaar, tried his luck but his shot failed to trouble Iker Casillas, who started in goal ahead of new boy Keylor Navas after being largely overlooked by Ancelotti for league matches last season.
Juan Carlos was then called into action at the other end as Ronaldo's shot deflected awkwardly towards goal before the Cordoba goalkeeper captured it at the second attempt.
Kroos was next to threaten Cordoba's goal with a strike from distance before Benzema opened the scoring with a powerful header just before the half-hour mark.
The former Olympique Lyonnais man agreed a new long-term contract extension earlier this month and proved his worth by crashing in a header off the post from Kroos' corner.
Cordoba showed a positive response to going behind as they started the second half the brightest, threatening the hosts' backline with some dangerous crosses.
Sergio Ramos denied Havenaar a clean header on target before Ryder Matos' long-range strike forced a save from Casillas in a positive period for Ferrer's men.
Rodriguez's fizzed effort was palmed away by Juan Carlos just before the hour before Xisco gave Real a scare - prodding the ball home from close range only to be adjudged offside.
Isco and Sami Khedira, whose future has also been the subject of much speculation, replaced Rodriguez and Benzema with 20 minutes remaining and Ronaldo made sure of the points after having a goal disallowed for offside.
The Portugal forward added a touch of gloss to the result with a long-range strike late on, having cut in from the left before beating Juan Carlos with a low drive.
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