News Archive

Copa del Rey, fourth round, first leg

Real Madrid all but mathematically secured their place in the next round of the cup after they hammered Cultural Leonesa 1-7 on Wednesday evening.The first leg tie was brought forward by five weeks to make space for Madrid to play in December’s Club World Cup, and although Zidane left several big names at home the replacements were more than a match for the regional second division B side. Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema in particular were rested, but the line up still included eleven full internationals, including seven from Spain. The locals though currently top their regional group, and a capacity crowd turned up hoping for a surprise. However with only six minutes gone Zuiverloon turned a Kroos free kick in to his own net, and Kroos hit the bar before Marco Asensio latched on to a Lucas Vázquez cross to make it two with half an hour gone. Just a minute after the restart Morata scored the third after James put him through, and Asensio and Morata added two more in the next ten minutes with assists from Isco and James. And midway through the second half Nacho fired home the goal of the night, a spectacular scissors kick past Palatsí from a James centre. The locals kept going though, and Gallar in particular brought a good save out of Kiko Casillas before Benja connected with a Forniés centre to give the crowd something to cheer about. Substitue Mariano headed the seventh though from a Lucas cross in injury time, and the fiasco of Madrid’s early elimination from last season’s competition for fielding an inelgible player is now well and truly forgotten. (26.10.16)