Lanzarote vs. Real Madrid. Copa Del Rey

Passage to the next round with no concession. Real Madrid defeated Lanzarote by 1-3 and now are closer to the 'Centenary Cup'. But, Del Bosque's boys had to work hard to beat this keen squad. The local side made the most of the artificial lawn of the field in their attempt to trouble the visitors, which they did on several occasions. The Whites improved their play gradually and finally met the predictions and the goals.

The first half meant quite a bit of trouble for the Whites. Del Bosque's men never managed to find the right rhythm of play. As they failed to put three passes together, the local keeper did not met much danger from Madrid, except for some precise moves. Del Bosque left Zidane, Figo and Helguera sitting on the bench and sent McManaman, Celades and Solari on to the field as replacements.

Right from the kicking-off whistle, Lanzarote, who had risen on the occasion of such an opponent, tried hard to give Real as much trouble as possible. They did so through a good football technique: by getting the ball down to the ground.

One could saw some good effects after the break. Figo was about to break the tie from a free kick (57') that went right by the post.

It was a warning of what was still to come. Guti rounded off Solari's perfect pass to the gap. This goal did do Lanzarote harm.

Despite playing away, Madrid found the strength to outplay its opponent. Pavon scored his first goal with the first team from a perfect corner-kick by Figo. It was the goal that was to settle the scoreboard, but Cesar still had to work hard to stop the local side, who were led by Maciot, the local idol, and also on their last legs. By then, Del Bosque had sent Zidane on replacing Solari. That was a change that all the audience celebrated. They did not want to leave the stadium without having seen the Frenchman doing some of his magic, which he eventually did. Real Madrid did not fail and is keeping up its Spanish Cup record.