CDR match recap: Real Madrid 6(10) – 1 (1)Melilla
By Hasan Karim
What a game that was! Real Madrid has sealed their place in the last sixteen of the Copa Del Rey following a home thrashing of Melilla. Running out 6-1 victors, there were plenty of positives from the game this afternoon!
Despite the visitors having some momentum in the early going – Real Madrid put a battering on the Segunda outfit. With quite the heavily rotated line-up, this game proved to be a good one to rotate some of the youth players in who were nothing short of impressive on all accounts.
The surprise inclusion may have been Dani Carvajal who has not long returned from injury and seemed an unnecessary inclusion, especially when one considers he played 45 mins as a left-back in this game.
Following his departure at half-time, we saw Castilla player Fran Garcia introduced who had some bright spells in this game! He’s definitely a player for you to watch out for in the future.
Sticking with the same trend, this game was all about watching the youth players show their talents, and that they all did! Vinicius Jr, Fede Valverde, Javi Sanchez, and Jesus Vallejo all featured and put in some solid showings. Vinicius was a handful throughout the game and could’ve easily bagged a few goals with sharper shooting.
His pace, trickery, and tenacity caused the opponents all kinds of trouble, he grabbed a goal and an assist during his time on the pitch, he now has the second most assists for the team this season, behind only Bale. With 6 goal contributions in 5 games, he really is starting to show the high potential we all know he has, his dribble and skill to set-up Asensio was a particular highlight.
Javi Sanchez and Vallejo partnered up as the center-back pairing in this game and they were fairly consistent throughout.
Despite Sanchez giving away a penalty, he did score a wonderful lobbed goal after he latched onto Asensio’s lofted pass. It was also good to see Vallejo return after his injury struggles, he didn’t really put a foot wrong in today’s game.
In midfield, Valverde put in a very strong performance, a few heavy touches now and again did not overshadow his solid direct play. He linked up well and was a threat when carrying the ball forward, the future is bright for the Uruguayan.
dark. Next. Keep dreaming Mr Mourinho
Outside of the youth players, we also saw the inclusions of some more established names. Asensio really stepped in this game, whilst not against the best opposition, his performance was solid and we learned something that could really help us going forward – PLAY HIM ON THE RIGHT WING. Throughout the game, he had the opposing defence on their heels with direct attacking runs.
He scored two goals and created one with an audacious lofted pass. Will this be his revival? Isco also had an amazing game, controlling the final third and he scored two goals – the first being the goal of the game quite easily. Mariano had a mixed game, he got into good positions but the goal was just not there and he came off injured in the second half, hopefully, it isn’t long-term.
Finally, Keylor Navas returned to action and he had a solid game, conceding a goal only due to a penalty. All around, an enjoyable attacking performance. Despite it being poor opposition, Madrid certainly will have gained some confidence from this.