UEFA Champions League holders, Real Madrid, sealed a spot as one of the seeded teams in the playoff round after easing past French Ligue 1 side, Stade Brestois, 3-0 in Guingamp on Wednesday night.
Carlo Ancelotti’s team started the game in France slowly, but gradually gained control of proceedings and duly took the lead after 27 minutes through a fine goal from Rodrygo.
The Brazilian cut inside a defender on his right foot, before shimmying back onto his left and striking a low effort in off the far post.
Brest responded after Ludovic Ajorque squeezed home a shot which deflected off Aurelin Tchouameni, only for VAR to disallow the goal due to a narrow offside in the build-up.
Jude Bellingham made it 2-0 after 57 minutes when he finished from Lucas Vazquez’s cutback, before Rodrygo added a third by turning in the rebound from a Marco Bizot save.
Despite Madrid’s result, victories for Bayer Leverkusen, Lille and Aston Villa meant it was mathematically impossible for Carlo Ancelotti’s side to pick an automatic spot in the top-eight.
Los Blancos will now face either Manchester City or Celtic in the play-offs while Brest – who also go into the knock-out rounds in their debut UEFA Champions League campaign – will take on Portuguese Primeira Liga giants SL Benfica or Ligue 1 heavyweights Paris St-Germain.