Real Madrid 1-2 Levante
As La Liga games go, it did seem a bit over the top to brand this as a final for Real Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui.
After all, his side were only two points off the summit.
Yet there was no doubting its importance after the club had gone four matches without a win and, perhaps more pertinently, more than 400 minutes without a goal – the club’s most barren record since 1985.
That drought simply had to end in the high-noon kick-off in the Bernabeu. so the shock to anyone tuning in just quarter of an hour into the contest must have been palpable.
Highlights of the game
Sergio Postigo played through Jose Luis Morales after a quiet opening six minutes, and he silenced the home fans by rounding Thibaut Courtois and turning the ball home.
Four minutes later, French World Cup-winning defender Raphael Varane was adjudged to have handled the ball on the edge of the penalty area and, after a two minute delay while the referee (who had initially given a free-kick) consulted VAR, Roger Marti converted the duly awarded spot-kick and Levante were two goals to the good.
Had Casemiro’s header not come back off the bar moments later or Marco Asensio not been flagged offside as he tucked home the rebound, the mood inside the stadium may have changed quickly.
But it didn’t.
Oier Olazabal’s first team debut came at this stadium for Granada in a 9-1 rout.
This was a much more enjoyable experience for the shot-stopper who twice kept out Lucas Vazquez and skipper Sergio Ramos in quick succession before Mariano summed up the hosts’ first half with a header which also hit the bar.
Olazabal then denied Casemiro and Vazquez again with a terrific save before the offside flag denied Levante what would have been a killer third goal just before the break.
This was anything but according to the script and certainly not what Los Blancos and many SBOBET followers consider normal service for the 13-time Champions of Europe.
After all, Lopetegui had Marcelo and Isco back after injury (the latter easing back into action after a spell out with an appendicitis) with Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale sufficiently recovering from muscle problems to be named on the bench.
The temptation to field his best eleven was averted with the El Clasico and Champions League return on the horizon this week, but the former Spain coach wasted no time introducing Bale at half-time.
Madrid had 10 more minutes to score and avoid setting a new club record without a goal – 464 minutes in April 1985.
They rarely convinced and, as the record passed, the frustration of Lopetegui, those inside the stadium and, no doubt, in the directors’ box increased.
Benzema was brought on just after the hour and immediately forced Olazabal into action after being set up by the man who joined him on the pitch, Dani Ceballos, while Bale also brought a save from the keeper.
Madrid desperately needed a breakthrough and got it with 18 minutes remaining when Marcelo blasted the ball into the roof of the net from a Benzema pull-back – eight hours and one minute since their last goal.
Suddenly, the mood lifted.
Benzema curled a fine effort against a post, Luka Modric forced the superb Olazabal into action once more who then denied Mariano. Levante continued to block everything they could – their resilience epitomised by Macedonian international Enis Bardhi who picked up an injury on international duty but was deemed fit to play by Levante’s medical team.
Mariano did have the ball in the net in the closing stages, but it was rightly ruled out for offside. Just like in their last match – a last-gasp defeat to Alaves – Real players walked off the pitch pretty despondent.
The last time Real went three top-flight games without a goal (let alone fail to win in four) was in 2007 when, reported one newspaper, then coach Fabio Capello was sacked at the end of the season.
What the article failed to mention was that Real finished the season as champions on a better head-to-head record against arch-rivals Barcelona (despite the Catalans finishing level on points and with a better goal difference).
The man in the Madrid hot seat 11 years on would no doubt be happy to take the same prize home at the end of this season.
After these La Liga 2018 highlights, there is a big question mark whether he’ll get the chance.
Levante are partying like it’s 1985!
Key statistics
This is the 24th game in a row, a run stretching back to April, that Real Madrid had made changes to their starting line-up.
Levante have won 12 of their 20 games since B team coach Paco Lopez took over the first team in March.
With Keylor Navas on the bench for Real and Borja Mayoral, on loan at Levante, unable to play against his parent club, there was not a player on the pitch who had, at one time, represented both teams.
Pedja Mijatovic and Savio are among those who have down the years.
What’s next?
Real welcome Czech minnows Viktoria Plzen to the Spanish capital in the Champions League in midweek before it’s the big one as far as Spanish football is concerned.
The first ‘El Clasico’ meeting of the new campaign and a match eagerly anticipated by many around the world. Watch out for La Liga 2018 betting odds for that one!
They have then been drawn to face third-tier UD Melilla in the Copa del Rey, the tiny Spanish enclave on the north coast of Morocco, in what will be their first-ever meeting.
Levante welcome Leganes in La Liga next weekend before traveling to lower league opposition in the Spanish Cup themselves with a trip to CD Lugo.
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