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.
"Real Madrid always need to win and always need to score, we came into this game after a match in which we deserved to score but didn't so obviously this result liberates us," Solari added.
"We played very well, we were solid and we deserved this result against a team that was very organised."
Griezmann strikes again as Atletico held to Cup draw at Girona
Atletico Madrid earned a 1-1 draw away to Girona in a chaotic and entertaining Copa del Rey last 16 first-leg match on Wednesday, leaving the tie finely balanced.
France striker Antoine Griezmann scored for the fourth game running to give Atletico the lead in the ninth minute, hammering a shot against the crossbar which bounced off goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz and crept into the net.
Atletico fielded an almost full-strength side at a windy Montilivi stadium while Girona opted to start without a number of first-team regulars, but the Catalans pulled themselves level in the 34th minute when a tame shot from Anthony Lozano went through the hands of visiting goalkeeper Antonio Adan.
Diego Simeone's side showed more determination to win the game after the interval and Angel Correa, Nikola Kalinic and Vitolo each had chances to restore their lead but failed to find the target, ahead of next Wednesday's second leg at their Wanda Metropolitano stadium.
