UD Melilla 0 - 4 Real Madrid: Real Madrid thrash third tier Melilla in Solari’s first game in charge

Posted Thursday, November 01, 2018 by PA

Real Madrid began life after Julen Lopetegui with a comfortable 4-0 win at Melilla in the first leg of the Copa Del Rey fourth round.

Madrid dispensed of the former Spain manager after a humiliating El Clasico defeat at the weekend, with Santiago Solari taking temporary charge.

Solari, who played for the club between 2000-2005, watched on as Karim Benzema, Marco Asensio, Álvaro Odriozola and Cristo goals downed the Segunda B outfit, with the second leg at the Bernabeu still to come.

UD Melilla 0 - 4 Real Madrid: Real Madrid thrash third tier Melilla in Solari’s first game in charge — Santiago Solari is in temporary charge of Real Madrid (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

This was always going to be a nice way for Solari to ease into things as he begins a caretaker spell which is not expected to last much longer than two weeks as Madrid plot their next move.

Unsurprisingly they were quick to dominate their third-tier hosts and came close to opening the scoring in the 23rd minute as Lucas Vázquez saw a long-range effort tipped just over the crossbar by home goalkeeper Dani Barrio.

There was nothing Barrio could do five minutes later, though, as the visitors took the lead with a fine counter attack.

28'' GOOOOOOOOAL by @Benzema!!! GET IN! @UDMelilla 0-1 @realmadriden #RMCopa | #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/v6kfoA25lP

— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) October 31, 2018

Vasquez was involved as he fed Odriozola who teed up Benzema to tuck home from close range.

It was 2-0 in first-half injury time as Asensio fired home from 12 yards after being found by Junio Vinicius.

Vinicius thundered an effort into the crossbar after the restart as Madrid continued to dominate, but they had to wait until the 79th minute to make it 3-0.

This one was not pretty as Sergio Reguilón’s effort was parried by Barrios and, after Vinicius had an effort blocked, Odriozola rammed home from a yard out.

📸 A winning start to our Copa del Rey campaign! #RMCopa pic.twitter.com/78eBdSp5pu

— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) October 31, 2018

Cristo’s goal came deep into injury time as Madrid made the win even more emphatic.

Madrid played a corner short, worked it down the right and Odriozola flighted in an inviting cross which the substitute had no problem heading home.

The second leg is not until the first week of December, but much bigger tests await Solari, beginning with a home league game with Valladolid on Saturday, which precedes a run of four away games.