Vinicius Junior on Wednesday starred as Real Madrid steadied the ship with a 3-0 win over CD Leganes to put them on the brink of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals.
The 18-year-old Brazilian signed by Madrid last summer capped an electric display at the Santiago Bernabeu with a stunning volley, his third goal for the club and the team’s third of the night.
By then, Sergio Ramos had converted a first-half penalty and Lucas Vazquez doubled the advantage to set Madrid on their way to a much-needed first victory of this year.
It would take a seismic comeback for Leganes to overturn the deficit in next week’s second leg, but more important to Real Madrid coach Santiago Solari was the rhythm regained, following two La Liga games without a victory.
The home crowd, who had whistled and waved white handkerchiefs on Sunday after a loss to Real Sociedad, were also treated to the sight of Brahim Diaz making his debut, the 19-year-old coming off the bench following his move from Manchester City.
However, Vinicius was the shining light. The striker was alive to every ball in the final third and his finish, a sweet shot with his body off balance, was a triumph for technical talent.
“He is taking big steps,” Solari said. “He has always had the ability, but to develop it and show it in the Bernabeu, alongside so many great players, speaks of his confidence and his courage.”
Vinicius had been at the center of things last weekend after being denied a controversial penalty during the second half of Real Sociedad’s shock win.
However, it was Real Madrid who were the beneficiaries of a marginal decision on Wednesday as Alvaro Odriozola tumbled out of a tussle with Gerard Gumbau and Ramos made no mistake.
Leganes had started brighter and could have been ahead had Martin Braithwaite been more precise with his finishing or quicker to a Gumbau pass across goal.
Instead, Madrid doubled their lead in the second half when Karim Benzema latched onto an under-hit back-pass from Bustinza and teed up Vinicius.
Vinicius then got the goal his performance deserved as Odriozola floated a cross to the back post. Backpedaling, the teenager adjusted his feet before swiveling into an acrobatic shot, the ball flying into the left-hand corner.
Earlier, Antoine Griezmann helped Atletico Madrid edge toward the last eight as they took a valuable away goal from a 1-1 draw with Girona.
Griezmann’s early shot found its way in off both the crossbar and then goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz, but Girona hit back before halftime through Anthony Lozano.
TOOTHLESS: Bologna never looked like finding a way back, and Antonio Conte and his substitutes were waiting to celebrate long before the final whistle SSC Napoli on Monday lifted the Italian Supercoppa with a 2-0 win over Bologna in Riyadh, David Neres netting both goals to earn the league champions a deserved victory over the toothless Coppa Italia winners. Neres opened the scoring with a stunning strike from distance six minutes before halftime and found the net again in the 57th minute when Bologna were caught trying to play out of defense. “We came here as champions of Italy, we wanted this trophy and we showed it with a great performance,” Napoli forward Matteo Politano told Mediaset. “We could have scored a few more goals, but
Fulham on Monday climbed away from the English Premier League relegation zone and left Nottingham Forest mired in the fight for survival after Raul Jimenez’s penalty sealed a 1-0 win. Marco Silva’s side started the day just two points above fourth-bottom Forest, but Jimenez’s first-half goal at Craven Cottage moved them 10 points clear of the bottom three. While Fulham’s relegation fears were eased heading into the Christmas schedule, Forest are just five points ahead of third-bottom West Ham United in the scrap to avoid crashing into the Championship. Forest had won six of their previous eight games in all competitions, with a
Backup quarterback Luke Weaver on Wednesday night threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Nick Cenacle with 10 seconds left, as the University of Hawaii rallied for a 35-31 comeback victory over the University of California, Berkeley in a thrilling Hawaii Bowl. Weaver entered the game after Micah Alejado took a hard hit on the previous play. With the Rainbow Warriors (9-4) in range for a tying field goal, coach Timmy Chang took a shot at the end zone, and Cenacle got between two defensive backs and made the contested catch. “How amazing is that?” Chang said. “It’s a program that is built
LACKLUSTER FIGHT: At one stage, the referee lost patience with the two fighters, warning them in the fourth round that ‘the fans did not pay to see this crap’ Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Friday knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in their controversial Netflix-backed bout in Miami. The fight at the Kaseya Center, which saw both men reportedly splitting a mammoth purse of US$184 million, had triggered alarm across boxing due to the gulf in physical size and class between Britain’s two-time former world champion Joshua and Paul, an Internet personality who has forged a lucrative career through a handful of novelty boxing contests. However, in the event, Joshua made hard work of defeating his vastly less accomplished opponent, before his superior size and power eventually told
RSS