It took just eight minutes for Gareth Bale to ignite the Bernabeu. After Karim Benzema’s effort was blocked, Bale latched onto a loose ball and scuffed an acrobatic effort in for the opener. Not exactly exhibiting the gymnastics skills that team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo did against Juventus, Bale’s bundled bicycle kick was enough to gift the home side an early lead. 1-0.

April 28, 2018

Leganes, refusing to let their heads go down, went in search of the equaliser. Diego Rico’s free-kick was met with a deft Guerrero header that threw Theo Hernandez off as he hacked at the ball. The left-back let out a sigh of relief as his botched clearance whistled past the far post.

Not long later, loanee Nordin Amrabat dug the ball out of his feet and clipped the bar with a strike that, albeit powerful, was always rising.

After a few promising chances, Leganes’ misery was compounded by Borja Mayoral. Goalkeeper Ivan Cuellar made a hash of dealing with Mateo Kovacic’s deep cross which fell kindly to Borja Mayoral at the back post to turn into an empty net. Suspicious of offside, the referee initially disallowed the goal before changing his mind and awarding Madrid their second of the game on the stroke of half-time. 2-0.

And they could have had a third just after the break. Casemiro’s driven free-kick deflected of Zaldua who, acting as a human shield, absorbed the sting of the strike with his midriff.

After flirting with scoring throughout the game, Leganes finally found the net on the 66 minute mark. Amrabat wriggled away from Theo on the right and squared the ball to Darko Brasanac who was waiting unmarked six yards from goal to stroke the ball in and half Madrid's lead. 2-1 and the game was well and truly on.

Fighting valiantly, the visitors almost grabbed an equaliser. With 15 minutes to go, Unai Bustinza flicked the ball goalwards at the back post but Kiko Casilla was alert and instinctively pawed away to safety. A few minutes later, spotting Madrid’s keeper off his line, Claudio Beauvue tried his luck from 40 yards out and watched on as his effort dipped onto the roof of the net. Close, but not quite.

Captain Gabriel Pires chose to go out with a bang. The Brazilian earned himself a red card after the final whistle for charging up to the referee and aggressively protesting his decision to blow up when Leganes were breaking.

A dominant second half from the visitors outclassed the reigning champions of Europe who clung onto their early goals and rode the tie out. 2-1 it finished and Leganes, who eliminated Zinedine Zidane’s side in the Copa del Rey earlier this season, left empty-handed.

D. Brašanac

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