Barcelona: Real Madrid eased to a 2-0 win at Cadiz in the Spanish league despite resting several first-choice players ahead of its trip to London to face Chelsea in the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.
Karim Benzema had already hit the woodwork twice as Cadiz clung to the goalkeeping skills of backup David Gil to stay alive before Nacho Fern ndez and Marco Asensio broke though with goals in the 72nd and 76th minutes.
The win left Madrid 10 points behind Spanish league leader Barcelona, which visits Getafe on Sunday.
Madrid visits Stamford Bridge on Tuesday holding a 2-0 lead after its convincing win over Frank Lampard’s team in Spain.
“David Gil played a great game and Nacho had to put it in for us,” Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said.
“We could have scored more goals, but hopefully we were saving them up for Tuesday.”
Coach Carlo Ancelotti once again rotated his squad after his team’s 2-1 loss to Barcelona last month appeared to finish off its Spanish league title defense.
Vin cius J nior and Toni Kroos both stayed in Madrid to recover from what Ancelotti described as minor muscle issues that are not expected to keep them from playing at Chelsea.
Luka Modric only played the final 10 minutes. Benzema, who has missed several games this season with muscle injuries, was in the starting 11 at Nuevo Mirandilla Stadium.
In the last round of games, a similar mix of backup players and set starters for Madrid were beaten by Villarreal 3-2 at the Santiago Bernabeu. Ancelotti had admitted his side lacked “motivation” against Villarreal with the league title seemingly out of reach at this stage.
This time, Madrid won through at Cadiz which, unlike the attack-minded Villarreal, tried in vain to annul the visitors’ superior talent by packing its area.
Cadiz almost caught Madrid off guard in the early stages when right back Alfonso Espino got into the area and sliced a shot off the far post in the 11th.
Otherwise, Madrid dominated.