With Barcelona having won earlier on Saturday against Villarreal, Real Madrid‘s heavily rotated ‘B team’ needed to grab three points to ensure parity at the top of the table, and James Rodriguez’s second minute opener set them on their way to a stunning victory at Granada.
There was a suspicion of offside but neither the linesman or referee gave the decision, leaving Tony Adams’ side facing an uphill battle for 88 minutes.
The goal also represented the 60th successive game in which Los Blancos have scored.
On his last performance for Real, Fabio Coentrao justified Zinedine Zidane’s decision to start him and he was decisive before 12 minutes were on the clock, firing in a cross that found Rodriguez again, totally unmarked, to power home a header for his and Los Blancos’ second.
Adams then bizarrely decided to substitute Aly Malle with Uche after just 17 minutes, the former clearly unhappy at a tactical change which suggested the coach had picked totally the wrong team to play the champions-elect.
Confidence from the hosts was non-existent as Real toyed with them for long periods.
Just before the half hour, the much-maligned Danilo stormed down the right-hand side and played a ball to Alvaro Morata who smashed a third in off the crossbar for his 19th of the season.
Shrugging off his marker, Angban, on 35, Morata’s accomplished finish for Real’s fourth sent a message to Zidane who continues to play Karim Benzema in his place.
With that, the home support, who had been behind Granada to that point, began booing and whistling their side.
It made little difference as Lucas Vazquez was allowed to cut inside and with Ochoa beaten, he should’ve made it five before the break, his shot crashing off of the crossbar.
The attacking momentum was relentless from the visitors leaving Adams scratching his head on the home bench, and there was still time for Casemiro to completely miss an open goal before the teams went into the tunnel, the cacophony of whistles music to the ears of those from the Spanish capital.
Not long after the half-time team talks, a burst of pace from Sergio Ramos saw him run unchallenged for sixty yards but rather than putting his foot through the ball for what would’ve been a wonder goal, he squared to a needlessly offside Marco Asensio.
Though the youngster was busy, he wasn’t as effective as he has been recently and Zidane withdrew him in favour of Karim Benzema for the final half hour.
As if to highlight Granada’s ills, former Barcelona player, Isaac Cuenca, managed to beat his marker and deliver a decent cross, but only one of his teammates was in the box to receive it, and he was crowded out by Real defenders.
The hosts did at least manage a shot on target on 61 minutes from Adrien Ramos but it was sandwiched by at least five presentable chances for Real, none of which were taken.
Granada at least managed to rock Real on their heels a couple of times, Ramos forcing a decent save from Kiko Casilla.
Still Real kept at it, but in the latter stages it was the hosts who had as many decent chances as their more celebrated opponents, Benzema coming closest for Real at the death.
The result means that Adams has now overseen five defeats in a row, four of which have been goalless for Granada.
Match Sheet:
0.- Granada: Ochoa, Foulquier, Hongla, Ingason, Silva, Khrin (Lomban 46), Angban, Andreas (Entrena 81), Cuenca, Malle (Uche 18), Adrian Ramos
4.- Real Madrid: Casilla, Ramos, Nacho, James, Casemiro (Isco 69), Coentrao, Kovacic; Lucas Vazquez (Mariano 77), Asensio (Benzema 59), Morata, Danilo.
Goals: 0-1, min. 3: James Rodriguez; 0-2, min. 11: James Rodriguez; 0-3, min. 30: Morata; 0-4, min. 35: Morata;
Referee: Ignacio Iglesias Villanueva (Spain).
Yellow Cards: Ingason (Min. 86) for Granada
Red cards: None
Stadium: Nuevo Los Carmenes
