Raphael Varane brace seals convincing win for Real Madrid

Andy West 10:09 30/10/2014
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  • Rising highest: Raphael Varane leaps to head home his second goal in Real Madrid's impressive win over Cornella.

    Raphael Varane was the unlikely goalscoring hero as Real Madrid kicked off the defence of their Copa del Rey crown with a 4-1 victory over lower league Cornella.

    Young French defender Varane netted the first brace of his career last night (Wednesday) with a pair of first half headers to help give his team a more than comfortable advantage ahead of December’s second leg at the Bernabeu.

    In between Varane’s two goals, Oscar Munoz provided Cornella with a memorable moment by equalising, but Madrid bounced back to claim the spoils and ultimately show the gulf in class between themselves and their third tier part-time opponents.

    Chicharito Hernandez and Marcelo added second half goals to complete the scoring in a game which was which switched to nearby Espanyol’s Power8 Stadium to satisfy the demand for tickets, attracting a crowd in the region of 30,000.

    With Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti resting plenty of regulars including Cristiano Ronaldo, German international Sami Khedira wasted a good early chance to mark his first start of the season with a goal by heading too close to home keeper Jose Segovia.

    But the deadlock was soon broken when James Rodriguez delivered an inswinging corner to the edge of the six-yard box where Varane arrived to power home a header.

    At that point it seemed to be just a question of how many Madrid would score, but they were shocked when a long ball forward from home team defender Xavi Pelegri was turned on by Xemi and Josele, allowing Munoz to turn away from Alvaro Arbeloa and thrash a fierce drive past Keylor Navas.

    The visitors proceeded to enjoy plenty of possession but initially struggled to create chances other than from set pieces, with Nacho Fernandez seeing a header blocked before Varane struck again to restore his team’s advantage by glancing home Isco’s corner.

    Hernandez made it 3-1 shortly after the interval, combining with Karim Benzema and picking up a loose ball on the edge of the box before swivelling to strike a low right-footed effort into the bottom left corner with deadly accuracy.

    Cornella refused to give up and threatened when substitute Alex Gallar sent a free-kick into the defensive wall, but Hernandez nearly had a second when he shot just wide after running onto a cross from substitute Marcelo.

    The Brazilian then netted the fourth, slotting home into an empty net after Segovia could only parry a low shot from Isco, and Ancelotti was able to give a first team debut to young striker Raul De Tomas as the clock wound down on a straightforward victory.

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