Real Madrid Defeat Leganes 3-1 Despite Resting Cristiano Ronaldo

Real Madrid came back from a goal down and raced to a 3-1 win over Leganes on Wednesday to move back up to third in La Liga, though they remain 14 points off leaders Barcelona. 

Los Blancos went down to an early strike from Unai Bustinza but hit back through Lucas Vazquez, Casemiro and Sergio Ramos to collect all three points.

Real have now won their last four matches and earned some revenge over Leganes after the same opponent dumped them out of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals in January.

Cristiano Ronaldo was left out of the squad that travelled to Leganes, and Gareth Bale was consigned to the bench as Vazquez and Marco Asensio were handed starts, with Isco floating behind striker Karim Benzema through the central channel.

With Wales international Bale among the replacements, manager Zinedine Zidane may have been left clamouring for reinforcements early on when Leganes took a shock lead inside six minutes.

Stand-in goalkeeper Kiko Casilla saw his defence come under pressure from an early corner, and Bustinza headed home his first professional goal in most peculiar fashion, as shown by Marca:

It took Real all of five minutes after that disappointment to get on the board themselves, however, and Leganes were at fault after surrendering the ball inside their own half.

That cheap loss of possession immediately came back to bite them as Benzema and Casemiro had a neat exchange before the latter found Vazquez, who made no mistake from close range. Football writer Kiyan Sobhani was full of praise for the 26-year-old:

Last season proved to be a platform for Asensio's ascension to Real's first team, but 2017-18 has arguably seen Vazquez make better use of his opportunities, shown again as he had a hand in the team's second.

While Benzema's scoring numbers have been lacking somewhat this season—he has three league goals in 18 appearances this term—Spanish football writer Simon Harrison also lauded his input in the buildup to Casemiro's 29th-minute strike:

Leganes secured a 2-2 draw against Los Blancos at home to help knock them out of the Copa del Rey only a few weeks ago, but the same result looked beyond them as the second half wore on and chances started to mount up against them.

If the result wasn't already beyond doubt at 2-1, Real were given the chance to confirm it when Mateo Kovacic was bundled over in the opposition box with only a minute of normal time remaining.

With Ronaldo nowhere to be seen, it was Ramos who volunteered to slot home the spot-kick, and he dispatched it smartly into the bottom-right corner of Ivan Cuellar's goal.

Real, like the rest of La Liga, have now played 24 games but have won five fewer than Barcelona, meaning they need a mighty collapse from the Blaugrana if they're to hold on to any hope of a successful title defence.