Real Madrid first game of the new year ended with a win over Sevilla in the 1st-leg of their Copa del Rey quarter final clash at the Santiago Bernabeau.
On the day that marked the first year of club legend Zinedine Zidane being named as coach of the side, it was the Colombian midfielder James Rodriguez who was the star of the match by bagging in a brace as Los Blancos won the Andalusian side 3-0 with all the goals being scored in the first half of the encounter.
Even without the front-trio BBC - Bale, Benzema and Cristiano - the Madrid side rose to occasion. With that win they have now extended their unbeaten run to 38 matches across all competitions, a run which started since April 2016.
After few minutes of play, Brazilian midfielder Casemiro slide in a pass for James to score his first goal in the 11th minute.
The second came in a moment later through a corner kick delivered by Toni Kroos and dispatched into the net by Raphael Varane who jumped ahead of every other players to do so in the 29th minute.
Sevilla could have reduced the deficit a bit if Joaquin Correa had buried the chance when he was one-on-one with Kiko Casilla, but the Madrid goalkeeper did well to save it with the follow up also messed up by Vicente Iborra despite the goal at his mercy.
Vitolo was also culpable some minutes later when he was also through on goal. He could only muster a straight shot into the hands of the Spanish goalkeeper.
Madrid wouldn't have to wait much longer to put the game to bed as Luka Modric appeared to be pushed in the area and referee Mateu Lahoz controversially pointed to the penalty spot. James stepped up and slot into the net for the third goal of the match and his third as well in the competition.
The second half did not produce any goal despite the two teams making their three maximum substitution as it appears that the Los Merengues are happy to let the game wane off.
The two teams meet for the 2nd-leg at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium on January 12 with Sevilla hoping to comeback from the mauling and qualify for the next round.
