This was supposed to be a week off for Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid squad, but for the fixture they missed during round 16 of La Liga due to their commitments in the Club World Cup. Rescheduled to Wednesday night, they were made to work hard for the win as they prevailed 3-1 away to Leganes in an early evening kick off.
Zidane was without five of his regular starters, as Keylor Navas and, more surprisingly, Cristiano Ronaldo were given the week off. Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Marcelo are all out injured and could be a worry for the second leg of the Champions League tie against PSG.
‘Los Blancos’ got off to a nightmare start as Leganes took the lead after six minutes in an odd fashion. A corner was swung in and a scramble ensued. Theo was on the line to clear, but he stuck out a toe and could only prod it onto the head of the diving Bustinza, who knew little about diverting the ball home.
Real Madrid have only played twice at Butarque, winning both times, but they could be forgiven for experiencing a little déjà vu. Leganes have already knocked them out of the Copa del Rey this season, and it looked as if another loss could be on the cards.
Happily for the European Champions, any doubts that may have crept in were quickly forgotten, as Lucas Vazquez equalised within four minutes. Isco played a ball in behind the defense and Vazquez shot, right-footed, across the goalkeeper Cuellar, who could do little about it, and into the bottom left hand corner of the net.
Real took the lead 19 minutes later with a goal of real quality. Casemiro, Karim Benzema and Vazquez exchanged a few first time passes, leaving the former with the freedom of the Leganes penalty area to slot a finish into the bottom corner. On the balance of play Real probably deserved to be winning, but it will have been tough to take for Leganes who acquitted themselves well.
Half time came and went with little other incident and Leganes made their intentions clear at the beginning of the second half. A double substitution saw Mantovani and Ruben Perez come on for Siovas and Gumbau, but neither player was able to make their mark on proceedings.