Santi Solari's fourth and final game as "interim" Real Madrid coach saw his side again nowhere near their fluid best, but battle through to a fourth consecutive win, with the 4-2 result mostly down to a tremendous centre-forward performance from Karim Benzema.

Positives

Benzema was just unstoppable tonight and easily the most decisive player on the pitch. Sergio Ramos showed he is becoming, somewhat surprisingly, a reliable penalty taker. Dani Ceballos filled in admirably in holding midfield and...

Santiago Solari's first game as "temporary" Real Madrid manager brought a comfortable 4-0 victory in Wednesday's Copa del Rey round-of-32 first leg at third-tier Melilla, with goals from Karim Benzema, Marco Asensio, Alvaro Odriozola and Cristo Gonzalez securing passage to the next round already and providing a welcome boost for the Bernabeu outfit.

Positives

After a slow opening quarter hour, Solari's side took complete control, with young attackers Vinicius Junior and Asensio especially impressing,...

Last Sunday marked exactly four years since Real Madrid last presented a big galactico signing -- the arrival of James Rodriguez for €80 million after the 2014 World Cup -- with the La Liga giants' transfer policy having since changed dramatically.

After long-term targets Neymar and Kylian Mbappe recently committed their futures to Paris Saint-Germain, friendly local media reports have been talking again about Madrid's intelligent focus on snapping up the best international young talent given...