A brace from James Rodriguez has given Real Madrid the upper hand over Sevilla as Zinedine Zidane's side claimed a 3-0 victory over Jorge Sampaoli's charges in the first leg of their Copa del Rey last-16 clash this evening.

Sevilla started the contest brightly with some keen early pressing, but they found themselves behind after 11 minutes when Casemiro produced some standout midfield work to release James, who finished coolly beyond Sergio Rico from the edge of the area.

The hosts soon upped the tempo after the opener and they might have found themselves two goals to the good, but Luka Modric was unable to steer his overhead kick inside the post from Dani Carvajal's cross.

The second goal was not too long behind, though, as Raphael Varane made use of some woeful defending from the visitors, who left the defender unmarked inside the box as he rose to send a corner beyond the reaches of a helpless Rico.

The goal appeared to jerk Sevilla into life and they responded by breaking in beyond the Real defence, only for Vicente Iborra to skew his effort wide of the target at the vital moment.

Madrid took advantage of some questionable officiating just before the half-time whistle as Modric was thought to have been brought down in the area by Mariano, leaving James to record his second goal of the night after converting from the spot.

The visitors might have found a route back into the contest in the second period, but they could not produce the required cutting edge to break down Los Blancos, who held firm to take a three-goal advantage into the tie's second leg.