Real Madrid sealed their place in the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey as goals from Raphael Varane, Lucas Vazquez, Vinicius Junior and Karim Benzema saw Los Blancos claim an emphatic 4-0 win away to Real Zaragoza on Wednesday night.
Zinedine Zidane picked a strong line-up for the trip to La Romareda, but gave a chance to Luka Jovic, Lucas and Vinicius in attack as a few others were kept in reserve ahead of Saturday’s derby at home to Atletico in La Liga.
Zaragoza, meanwhile, made eight changes to their team, with the priority clearly a trip to Cadiz in Spain’s Segunda Division on Sunday.
The home side were competitive in the first half, but struggled to create chances and Madrid went ahead when Varane tapped in at the far post from a Toni Kroos centre which was dummied by Vinicius after just six minutes.
Kroos then fed Lucas just inside the box after 32 minutes and the winger produced a fine finish as he drove into the corner with his right foot from a central position.
Vinicius made it 3-0 following a one-two with James Rodriguez with just under 20 minutes left and after Alphonse Areola had made a couple of good saves to deny Zaragoza a consolation, Benzema struck his first goal of 2020 when he fired home from a Dani Carvajal cutback.
Madrid join Athletic Club, Valencia, Villarreal and Real Sociedad in the last eight, with two more ties ahead on Thursday.
