Leganes 0 – 1 Real Madrid – Madrid’s Copa del Rey win as it happened

Second Half

Real Madrid have had serious problems starting with intensity in the second half, and such it was against Leganes. Possession was distributed much more evenly between the two teams for the start of the second half, and around the 55th minute mark Leganes began building into the match.

Iraso started to terrorize Dani Carvajal on the left. Carvajal had a few sloppy errors that created moments of danger for Leganes in the box. Kiko Casilla was forced into one big save, although his save  was far from decisive, pushing the ball shallow into Madrid’s box where Ceballos had to dribble out.

Leganes nearly scored after a free kick from Leganes as Deigo Rico lofts the ball into the area and Marcos Llorente nearly puts the ball in the back of the net, but it clatters off the post. A bit of chaos in the box ensued  as Casilla failed to command his area.

Zidane put Isco and Modric on for Ceballos and Llorente to allow Madrid to chase the game in the last twenty minutes. You could tell they did add a bit of quality and intensity to the attack, but Madrid began to look characteristically leaky at the back. Amrabat cut through the defense and crossed to Beauvue in the center whose shot required a massive save from Kiko Casilla to keep Madrid level.

Real Madrid looked pretty drab going forward in the final twenty minutes. Madrid pressed high up the pitch and bombed everyone but the center-backs forward. But despite the numbers in attack, Madrid rarely ever looked truly threatening.

Madrid finally began to really turn the screws as Modric and Isco dialed up the pressure in the last five minutes of regulation. The breakthrough finally came, as Isco’s touch found Theo out wide, and Theo crossed into an onrushing Marco Asensio who struck quickly to find the back of the net in the near corner.