Real Madrid signed off their pre-season with a victory after beating Reims 5-3 in the Santiago Bernabeu Trophy this evening.
The contest was organised to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first-ever European Cup final that took place between the two teams in 1956, and Reims were the side to take an unlikely lead as Pablo Chavarria progressed unchallenged before flashing a shot beyond Kiko Casilla in the seventh minute.
Zinedine Zidane's side were soon shaken into motion and they hit back almost instantly through Nacho, who made up for some rather poor defending for the previous goal by beating his marker to send a Toni Kroos corner past Reims stopper Johann Carrasso.
Reims sought to give the home side something to think about in a lively first period, this time as they threatened on the counter, where Casilla had to be alive to a perfectly-timed run from away frontman Balde.
Real soon turned up the heat on their opponents, however, as Kroos put in another superb corner that was met by the head of Sergio Ramos, who was able to thump the ball past a stranded Carrasso to give Los Blancos a 2-1 lead.
That advantage was extended just before the half-time whistle through Alvaro Morata, who made up for a rather tepid first-half showing with a smart run to lose his marker and complete a trio of headers.
The French side were determined to make a game of things despite having their focus on an already-underway Ligue 2 campaign and they gave themselves a lifeline through substitute Remi Oudin, who made use of some poor defending to make it 3-2 early in the second period.
Any hope of a revival was seemingly put to bed not too long after, though, as James Rodriguez bagged Real's fourth of the night in the 60th minute, having followed up his own shot on the rebound to give the hosts a two-goal advantage.
Still Reims strove to give a good account of themselves and they established a tense finish when substitute Grejohn Kyei caught the Real defence napping with just over 15 minutes to play.
The contest was eventually put out of reach with 11 minutes to go, when Enzo Zidane produced a pass that his father would have been proud of, leaving an unchallenged Mariano with plenty of time to find a way beyond the Reims keeper and leave the final score at 5-3.
Christopher Dodd
