Having won the first leg of their Copa del Rey clash with Sevilla 3-0, Zinedine Zidane named largely a weakened team for the away leg on Thursday night and in doing so put the club's pursuit of Spanish record at risk.
By going 39 games unbeaten Real had equalled the record set by Barcelona, but it looked as though a record-breaking 40th game may be one too far as Sevilla were leading 3-1 with 10 minutes to play, and were pushing to level the tie.
But Sergio Ramos had other ideas, and when Real were awarded a penalty in the 82nd minute he stepped up for what would effectively end the tie there and then...
And he took the piss with a perfectly executed 'panenka':
When you miss you look like a complete tit, but when you pull it off you look like the man.
Not happy to have the tie wrapped up, Madrid pushed on in search of the goal that would secure a record-breaking result, and they found it thanks to a remarkable goal from Karim Benzema.
After exchanging tidy back-heels with Marcelo, the Frenchman bamboozled the Sevilla defence before firing the ball home.
40 unbeaten for Los Blancos, and 29 for Zidane since taking over.
FT: Sevilla 3-3 Real Madrid
Real Madrid's unbeaten streak is now at 40 games! They top Barcelona's Spanish record! https://t.co/pLahnGzOsg pic.twitter.com/2cpaDCMhAQ— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) January 12, 2017
Remarkable.
Zidane has had exactly the desired effect at the Bernabeu, as the respect that the players have for him as one of the best to ever play the game means they are going the extra mile for him.
Earlier in the game Marco Asensio showed why he is so highly rated with an incredible solo goal to pull Madrid level before Sevilla added a second and third.
Frightening.
As for Sergio Ramos, he's in decent form. Not bad for a player once dubbed 'Paul McShane on steroids' by a certain RTÉ pundit.
