Real Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw by Levante, making it two points from two consecutive home games in LaLiga.
A
much-changed Real Madrid dropped points for the second LaLiga home game
in a row as Levante held them to a 1-1 draw on Saturday.
Lucas
Vazquez cancelled out Ivi’s surprise opener but it was another
frustrating 90 minutes for the champions at the Santiago Bernabeu, as
they handed Barcelona another early boost in the title race.
Zinedine
Zidane’s side drew 2-2 with Valencia prior to the international break
and they were once more unconvincing as they failed to take all three
points against last season’s LaLiga123 winners, with Marcelo sent off
for a petulant kick in the dying minutes.
Madrid
handed first starts of 2017-18 to Theo Hernandez and Marcos Llorente,
with Isco, Casemiro and Gareth Bale all on the bench and Luka Modric and
Keylor Navas rested entirely following their exploits for their
national teams, while Cristiano Ronaldo remained sidelined through
suspension.
Zidane had stressed the importance
of utilising his squad prior to the match but they looked well short of
their best against a disciplined visiting side, who kept Madrid
restricted to half-chances after Vazquez levelled following Ivi’s early
goal.
Karim Benzema picked up a suspected
hamstring injury and Marcelo saw red late on to compound a poor outing
for the home side, who will be four points behind Barca after only three
games if Ernesto Valverde’s side win the derby with Espanyol later on
Saturday.
The half-full-looking
Bernabeu crowd were stunned when Levante took the lead after only 12
minutes, Ivi pouncing on a loose ball and lifting it over Kiko Casilla
after the Madrid defence failed to deal with an Ivan Lopez long throw.
Matters
got worse for Madrid when Benzema hobbled off after slipping when
controlling the ball, forcing Zidane to throw on Bale after only 27
minutes.
Frustrations were starting to build
but the hosts drew level 10 minutes before the break, Vazquez tapping
home after Raul Fernandez had just kept out a header from Sergio Ramos,
who was back from suspension.
Bale glanced a
header narrowly wide but should have done better two minutes later, the
Wales international breaching the offside trap but failing to beat Raul
from inside the penalty area.
The Wales forward
nodded over another presentable chance before Zidane decided to try to
force the initiative and introduced Isco from the bench just past the
hour mark.
Madrid’s control of possession did
not let up but the end product in attack was becoming increasingly
erratic, with Marco Asensio slicing wide after a good run and Dani
Carvajal sending a cross from a promising position straight into Raul’s
gloves.
The Levante keeper endured a nervy
moment when he spilled a Carvajal volley before gathering but he
produced the save of the match to deny Asensio from inside the penalty
area with only eight minutes left.
Bale missed
another headed opportunity as Madrid poured forward in the dying stages,
but it was far too little too late from the European champions ahead of
the start of their Champions League defence next week.
Marcelo
forced another fine save from Raul but was promptly sent off for
kicking out at Jefferson Lerma as he attempted a block before Toni Kroos
struck the post in stoppage time, leaving Zidane with plenty to ponder
ahead of a busy month to come.
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