Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane hailed his side's "seriousness" after Wednesday evening's 7-1 Copa del Rey last 32, first-leg win at Cultural Leonesa.
Zidane rested superstar attackers Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale but still named a very strong XI including 10 senior internationals and they easily saw off their Segunda B [third tier] opponents, who must still visit the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu for the second leg on Nov. 30.
A Gianni Zuiverloon own-goal got things off to an awful start for the club owned by Qatar's Aspire Academy, with Marco Asensio, Alvaro Morata, Nacho Fernandez and Mariano Diaz also on the scoresheet, and Benja getting a late consolation for the hosts.
The Los Blancos coach told his post-game news conference that he was happy that his team had begun the game with the required intensity and delivered a complete performance.
"I am very happy with the performance, starting the game very well, with intensity, playing the game in their half," Zidane said. "We played a serious game. That was the most important for me, and respecting our opponent.
"They are a good team who play good football. There is a difference [in quality] which is normal. I am very happy. Today was a complete performance, even though [La Cultural] scored."
Youngsters Asensio and Morata are now Madrid's top scorers this season with six goals each despite limited playing time -- meaning their combined total is equal to that achieved so far by superstars Ronaldo, Bale and Karim Benzema together [as all three have scored four in all competitions so far].
Zidane said he was happy with how his squad players had shown they could perform when called upon.
"We will always have players who play more, and others who play less," he said. "But the good thing is that when you make a change, the player is ready to come in. Today they showed that. It is difficult as we have a game every three days. It is difficult to be always at your best. But my responsibility is for the team to always compete, in every game, every moment. We are doing that very well at the moment, but we have not won anything yet, this is all very long -- Copa, Liga and Champions League."
Reserve centre-back Nacho scored the goal of the evening, a flying volley from 15 yards from James Rodriguez's cross.
"It was a lovely goal, a goal for history," Zidane said. "I am very happy for him. He deserves it as he trains very well, is a serious guy."
Toni Kroos was the only big star to play all 90 minutes, with the Germany international continuing without a rest due to injuries to other midfielders Casemiro and Luka Modric.
"[Kroos] had to play as in that position we are missing players," Zidane said. "So he started the game. Later I asked him if he wanted to come off for a rest, but he wanted to play until the end. It was a normal game for him."