Real Madrid thrashes Salzburg to assure Champions League play-off place

MADRID, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Real Madrid had a comfortable 5-1 win at home to RB Salzburg on Wednesday that assures Carlo Ancelotti's side at least secures a place in the play-offs for the last 16.

Oscar Gloukh gave Real Madrid an early shock when he fired just wide of the far post after getting the better of Raul Asencio, but Real Madrid took the lead in the 23rd minute when Rodrygo scored his first goal of the night.

Jude Bellingham failed to control a pass from Vinicius Jr, but the ball fell kindly for Rodrygo to run into the area and score with a shot across the face of goal.

The goal saw Madrid take the initiative, with Vinicius firing over and in the 34th minute, Rodrygo doubled the lead. Bellingham provided an excellent assist with a back-heel into space for Rodrygo to score with a shot across Salzburg goalkeeper Janis Blaswich.

Real Madrid had scored twice with their first two shots on target in the game, and the only blot on the first half was a yellow card shown to Vinicius for diving, which means he misses next week's trip to Brest.

Kylian Mbappe added a third three minutes into the second half after a bad defensive error saw Blaswich gift him the ball inside the six-yard box.

Vinicius scored Madrid's fourth in the 55th minute after a pass from Luka Modric put him clean through on goal.

The winger scored his second of the game with an excellent individual goal 13 minutes from time, before Mads Bidstrup's late volley saved some honor for the Austrians.

Also on Wednesday, Girona slid to a narrow 1-0 defeat away to AC Milan, meaning they have no chance of making the play-offs. ■