James Rodriguez’s star shone brightest as a rampant Real Madrid raced to a 3-0 lead in their Copa del Rey last-16 tie against Sevilla on Wednesday.
Cristiano Ronaldo led a list of Madrid absences that also contained Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Gareth Bale and Lucas Vazquez as James surprisingly started ahead of Isco and Karim Benzema. Sevilla, meanwhile, went strikerless, opting to make do without the likes of Pablo Sarabia and Luciano Vietto.
Sevilla’s defensive line-up almost backfired just two minutes in as Luka Modric’s angled cross from the right was somehow slid wide of the target by Alvaro Morata, although the striker was quickly flagged offside.
Nonetheless, a lovely finish from James saw him curl a left-footed shot past Sergio Rico from just outside the Sevilla box after Gabriel Mercado’s poor pass out to Steven N’Zonzi. That was followed by Modric sending a spectacular scissor kick inches wide from Dani Carvajal’s cross.
Jorge Sampaoli asserted before the game that his Sevilla side would look to “drown” Madrid with their pressing, but it was anything but from the Andalusians, with Los Blancos well on top.
Indeed, moments after a superb Madrid move saw Marcelo blast a first-time volley straight at Rico from the left, Varane climbed highest to power a header home for 2-0.
Morata then looked to pick his spot in the Sevilla box, with the visitors’ defence all at sea, but his shot was desperately clawed away by Rico.
However, Joaquin Correa was soon able to spring a dismal Madrid offside trap. Although the Argentine was denied from point-blank range, Vicente Iborra shanked the subsequent rebound in front of an open goal.
It was then Vitolo’s turn to try catching out the hosts, the winger picked out to perfection as he bent his run to spring another awful offside trap, but his close-range shot was easily parried away by Casilla at his near post.
Sevilla’s momentary upturn in fortunes was just as quickly dashed on the cusp of half-time, when Mariano hauled down Marco Asensio in the box, although the right-back appeared to be pushed himself. Still, James stepped up to send Rico the wrong way.
The second half saw Madrid completely neutralise Sevilla and close the game out with minimal fuss, begun by Marcelo drilling a pinpoint cross towards the far post for Morata to tuck away, only for the attacker to mis-hit the ball.
Correa did drag a shot just wide of Casilla’s far post for Los Nervionenses, who also forced Kiko Casilla to charge off his line and make a perfectly-timed, sliding interception, but that was all they could muster.
Marcelo, on the other hand, fired a shot inches over from James’ cutback, the Colombian then given a standing ovation before being replaced by Danilo.
Mariano Diaz almost scored with his first touch as he somehow looped the ball on target when turning his marker in the Sevilla penalty area.
The substitute was denied by Rico, but the goalkeeper could do little else as Los Merengues all-but-secured their place in the quarter-finals and extended their unbeaten run to 38 games.
Real Madrid 3-0 Sevilla
James 11, pen 44, Varane 29
Real Madrid: Casilla; Carvajal, Varane, Nacho, Marcelo; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; James (Danilo 79), Morata (Mariano 83), Asensio (Isco 67)
Sevilla: Rico; Mariano, Rami, Mercado, Escudero; N’Zonzi, Nasri, N’Zonzi, Correa (Ben Yedder 82), Ganso (Sarabia 46); Iborra (Kranevitter 59); Vitolo
Referee: Mateu Lahoz
