Real Madrid survived a Sevilla onslaught but came back to draw 3-3, reach the Copa del Rey quarter-finals and set a new record of 40 games unbeaten.
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Mariano Diaz replaced Cristiano Ronaldo for a second-string Madrid against Sevilla, who benched Samir Nasri and were without Steven N’Zonzi. New boys Stevan Jovetic and Mathieu Lenglet, however, were included, with the latter starting alongside Adil Rami and Gabriel Mercado in a three-man backline.
The hosts quickly came out of the traps, looking for an early goal that would have put huge pressure on Los Blancos.
Indeed, two chances inside the opening few minutes saw Sergio Escudero hit a volley on target that Kiko Casilla had to punch away, the goalkeeper then getting down low to tip wide Joaquin Correa’s drive.
That pressure paid off when Danilo tucked away a header into his own goal, although Sevilla didn’t have long to celebrate as David Soria needed to claw away a Marco Asensio strike from distance seconds later.
Madrid began to get their groove on midway through the first half and were nearly gifted a comical equaliser by Soria, whose clearance blasted off Mariano and just wide. The youngster did fire the ball past the custodian moments after but was rightly adjudged to be offside.
Kiko Casilla, meanwhile, was doing all he could to not only keep Madrid in the tie but also displace Keylor Navas as he saved three snapshots in quick succession.
On the other hand, the linesmen had an evening to forget. Wissam Ben Yedder was clearly level in one phase of play yet flagged, Vicente Iborra was on the wrong side of close offside calls on at least two occasions and Asensio seemed to be on when he shifted inside of Mercado in the Sevilla box.
Back to the goalmouth action, however, and Toni Kroos played a deft one-two with Mariano on the edge of the Andalusians. Sadly for the German, his high, side-footed finish flew inches wide of Soria’s right-hand post.
An ankle knock to Correa saw former Serie A rival Jovetic come on for his Sevilla debut earlier than planned, in first-half stoppage time.
Yet Jorge Sampaoli’s men were dealt a hammer blow when Asensio carried the ball into their box all the way from a corner, speeding past a Rojiblanco jersey in the process, and beat Soria.
As well as having shades of Gareth Bale against Barcelona in the 2014 Copa del Rey final, it also eliminated the possibility of extra time and – more importantly for Madrid – meant the Andalusians would need at least four goals to reach the quarters.
Still, they would regain wind in their sails as Jovetic superbly hit a close-range volley past Casilla first time from a cross for a debut goal.
Jovetic looked sharp in his time on the pitch and would’ve scored another, were it not for Casilla blocking the Montenegrin’s second volley from a cross.
Ben Yedder proceeded to send a free header wide, before Morata curled one inches over Soria's bar, but Iborra managed to bundle home from a couple of yards out.
The momentum seemed to have sided with Sevilla after that, yet Matias Kranevitter stupidly barged into the back of Casemiro. Ramos – against his boyhood club – brilliantly dispatched a Panenka past Soria.
Jovetic’s diving header at the far post was then superbly tipped wide by Casilla, but the goalkeeper could only watch as Lenglet’s header then clipped the post.
Sevilla ran out of gas going into injury time, and that coupled with Madrid pushing for a late equaliser opened the door for Los Merengues to equalise through Karim Benzema at the death and ensure Spanish history was made.
Sevilla 3-3 Real Madrid (3-6 agg.)
Danilo og 10, Jovetic 53, Iborra 77 (S) Asensio 48, Ramos 83, Benzema 90 (RM)
Sevilla: Soria; Mercado (Vitolo 65), Rami, Lenglet; Sarabia, Iborra, Kranevitter, Correa (Jovetic 45), Escudero; Vietto (Nasri 55), Ben Yedder
Real Madrid: Casilla; Danilo, Nacho, Ramos, Marcelo; Asensio, Casemiro, Kroos; Lucas (Carvajal 64), Morata (Benzema 76), Mariano (Kovacic 58)
Referee: Undiano Mallenco
