Real struggled to beat third-tier team

The Madrid giants beat Fuenlabrada 2-0 with two penalties in the second half.

Goals: Asensio 63' penalty, Lucas Vazquez 80' penalty

Real Madrid left most of their stars out for the first leg of the Copa del Rey round of 32, including the newly-awarded The Best Cristiano Ronaldo. Real Madrid's starting lineup only had two regular starters in recent times, Nacho and Marco Asensio.

The patchwork formation made it almost impossible for the Madrid giants to overwhelm their third-tier opponents Fuenlabrada. In the entire first half, the white team only had one time to threaten goalkeeper Jordi Cordina's goal when Marcos Llorente volleyed.

Asensio successfully kicked the opening penalty. Photo: Reuters

Attacking more strongly from the beginning of the second half, Real opened the scoring in the 63rd minute. The goal came from a situation where Fran Garcia fouled Hakimi in the penalty area, and Asensio scored from the 11m mark.

Borja Mayoral had two close calls against Fuenlabrada, before Real were awarded a penalty after Paco Candela pulled down Theo Hernandez. This was also the situation that earned Candela a second yellow card. From the 11m mark, Lucas Vazquez successfully kicked the ball to seal a 2-0 victory.

Real also had a player sent off in Jesus Vallejo. In his first game for the A team, the 21-year-old centre-back was shown a straight red card for a rough foul in the 89th minute.

The two teams will play the second leg in Madrid at the end of November.

According to VNE