Real Madrid-Sevilla: as it happened, goals, reaction
Real Valladolid vs Real Madrid live: LaLiga Santander
Real Madrid swept Sevilla aside at the Bernabéu in the perfect warm-up for the Club World Cup as Zinedine Zidane’s side laid on a stunning display of attacking football that ended the contest by half-time and earned the players a standing ovation from the stands on the 45-minute whistle.
Nacho, who had an excellent game all round, opened the scoring on three minutes by capitalizing on a defensive blunder to fire past Sergio Rico. Cristiano Ronaldo then extended his extraordinary record against Sevilla by adding two to take his tally in LaLiga against Saturday’s visitors to 25 in 14 games. The Portuguese first fired low past Rico after an excellent ball from Marco Asensio then beat the Spain keeper from the spot, although Rico can be aggrieved at the ball slipping under his body and into the net after he correctly guessed Ronaldo’s intention.
Achraf opens his Real Madrid account
Toni Kroos buried a fourth with the instep of his left boot after a nice interchange with Lucas Vázquez before Achraf Hakimi scored his debut goal for Madrid, running onto a cute assist from Karim Benzema after a sweeping Real break from deep.
After the restart the game was more of a training exercise for the home side as Sevilla sat deep and Real tried patiently, if not particularly urgently, to pick a way through. Benzema rattled the woodwork with a well-taken header from Marcelo’s cross but that was a brief flash of interest that punctuated 45 minutes of going-through-the-motions football.
In a nod to Ronaldo’s fifth Ballon d’Or, and with the Club World Cup in mind, Zidane took the Portuguese off on 75 minutes to a raucous ovation from the Bernabéu, who had been treated to a display of the number seven’s five golden orbs before their side put on a five-star display to seal victory in a single half, in the process scoring more than three times in a game for the first time this season.
