Casemiro stars for Real Madrid as 2-1 win vs Sevilla sends Los Blancos top of LaLiga

Casemiro struck twice as Real Madrid made it 13 wins in a row against Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabeu and moved provisionally above Barcelona at the top of LaLiga on Saturday.

With Eden Hazard still out injured, Gareth Bale not included in the squad and Karim Benzema only on the bench, Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane picked several of his fringe players in attack.

But Lucas Vazquez, Luka Jovic and Rodrygo struggled to find any rhythm early on and Real were also missing the drive of Fede Valverde in midfield, with the Uruguayan suspended following his red card in last weekend’s Supercopa win over Atletico.

Captain Sergio Ramos held up the Supercopa trophy to the fans before kick-off, but he too was out with an ankle problem sustained against Atletico and Eder Militao started alongside Raphael Varane, making his 300th appearance for the club.

Chances were few and far between as the two teams cancelled each other out in the first half, but Sevilla thought they had gone ahead when Luuk de Jong headed home unmarked from a corner after 29 minutes.

However, the Dutchman’s effort was ruled out following a lengthy VAR check as Nemanja Gudelj was penalised for blocking Militao in a decision which infuriated Sevilla.

The scores were level at the interval and Madrid did not improve much in the second half, but the breakthrough arrived after 57 minutes when Jovic sent a brilliant back-heel into the path of Casemiro and the Brazilian held off two Sevilla players to clip a low shot past Vaclik from a tight angle.

It was a rare moment of inspiration from Los Blancos, although their joy was short-lived as De Jong curled in an equaliser five minutes later to silence the Bernabeu. And there was absolutely nothing wrong with this one.

But Casemiro would not be denied. The midfielder rose to head home from a Vazquez cross from the right to make it 2-1 after 69 minutes and this time, there was no way back for Julen Lopetegui’s side.

Lopetegui had been applauded on his return to the Bernabeu, but was unable to prevent a 13th straight loss for Sevilla at Real Madrid’s home, although new signing Youssef En-Nesyri came close to a leveller as he fired wide from the edge of the box late on.

Zidane’s side also missed further chances through substitute Vinicius Junior, Toni Kroos and Casemiro again, but Los Blancos sealed the win which sees them go provisionally three points clear of Barcelona after 20 games, with the Catalans in action at home to Granada in Quique Setien’s first game as coach on Sunday.

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