Bale shines in Real’s victory
MADRID: Gareth Bale scored as a much-changed Real Madrid warmed up for tomorrow’s Champions League semi-final second leg at Bayern Munich with a 2-1 win over Leganes on Saturday.
Bale bundled Real into an early lead before Borja Mayoral made it two before half-time.
Darko Brasanac gave Leganes hope of a comeback, but Real closed out the victory despite struggling in the second half.
“I’m very happy with the attitude of my players today, with 10 changes to the starting eleven, with players who haven’t played much,” said Real coach Zinedine Zidane.
“We can’t be happy with what we’ve done in the league in general. We lost a lot of points at the beginning, then we were a bit better but that can happen in a season.
“Now we have to get back to work, we have another match on Tuesday which will be our game of the year. We have a title to defend.”
Real stay third in the table, one point behind city rivals Atletico who played Alaves late yesterday, when Barcelona can secure the La Liga title if they avoid defeat at Deportivo La Coruna.
Meanwhile, Sevilla sacked coach Vincenzo Montella after just four months in charge after seeing their winless run extended to nine games with a 2-1 loss at lowly Levante on Friday.
It was the second time the Italian had been sacked this season, after being dumped by AC Milan last November.