MADRID: Real Madrid eased their recent troubles by securing a therapeutic 3-0 home win against Leganes in the first leg of their last-16 Copa del Rey tie on Wednesday. Captain Sergio Ramos gave the floundering European champions the lead from the penalty spot shortly before halftime at a sparsely attended Santiago Bernabeu. Lucas Vazquez doubled the lead midway through the second half after a mix up between the visiting defence and goalkeeper Ivan Cuellar. Brazilian teenager Vinicius Jr brought the crowd to its feet with an outrageous volley to further stretch Madrid’s lead in the 78th minute, giving Santiago Solari’s side a huge advantage heading into next Wednesday’s return leg. “Things haven’t been going our way and we haven’t been getting the right results, we were feeling angry and we unleashed that on the pitch,” said Real defender Nacho. Fans stayed away from Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday after Sunday’s shock defeat by Real Sociedad left them 10 points adrift of leaders Barcelona in La Liga. Solari, who has faced criticism for the team’s drab start to 2019, also said the team felt a sense of release after the victory after the Sociedad defeat and last week’s 2-2 draw at Villarreal. Published in Daily Times, January 11th 2019.