Ten-man Real Madrid slumped to their first defeat
of the new season after suffering a surprise setback
at Levante.
Madrid, who beat Levante 8-0 in the Copa del Rey last
season, started well enough but the 41st-minute dismissal
of midfielder Sami Khedira was a key incident and Levante
took advantage to claim the points thanks to Arouna
Kone's second-half strike.
Aside from Khedira's red card, there were also 11 other
yellow cards shown as the referee was kept busy in a
tempestuous encounter at the Ciutat de Valencia.
The result leaves Madrid three points behind pacesetters
Valencia and one behind arch rivals Barcelona, who recorded
an 8-0 win of their own last night after thumping Osasuna.
Madrid came into the match having scored 10 goals in
winning their opening two fixtures and they would have
been expected to add another three points against a
Levante side that had drawn their first two matches.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who has netted 15 times in his previous
six league games, started the match on the bench after
needing stitches to an ankle injury sustained during
Wednesday's Champions League win over Dinamo Zagreb,
but even without the Portugal ace Madrid were soon taking
charge.
Karim Benzema felt he had opened the scoring in the
10th minute only to see his celebrations cut short by
the referee's whistle for an infringement, and Kaka
then fired over and saw an effort saved by Levante goalkeeper
Gustavo Munua.
In the 23rd minute Benzema looked certain to score
when Munua raced out of his goal and spilled a high
ball, but the Frenchman's shot was blocked on the line
by Sergio Ballesteros.
Benzema had another half-chance in the 34th minute
when Munua was again caught off his line, but the former
Lyon man's attempted lob went well over.
Madrid's bid to continue their 100% start then suffered
a big setback when they lost Khedira.
The Germany midfielder was shown a second yellow card
following a fracas involving numerous players near the
touchline, with Khedira receiving his booking after
shoving over Ballesteros.
With his side a man down, Mourinho opted to send Ronaldo
into the fray at half-time, the £80million man
replacing Benzema.
However, it was Levante who started the second half
the better and Vicente Iborra's long-range effort drew
a parry from Iker Casillas before Juanlu spurned a great
opportunity for the hosts.
He was put through down the left but, after racing
into the box, he ignored two team-mates steaming into
the middle when a pass looked a better option and opted
to shoot, with his effort going wide of the far post.
Levante need not have worried though as within two
minutes of that they took the lead.
Javi Venta made his way into the area before cutting
the ball back to Ivory Coast striker Kone, who took
one touch before rifling an unstoppable shot into the
roof of the net past Casillas.
The 10 men of Madrid tried to fight their way back
into the clash after that but they found it tough to
create chances against a heavily-packed home defence
and were largely limited to efforts from outside the
box.
Levante, in contrast, looked capable of netting a second
on the counter-attack and Carlos Aranda was denied by
Casillas following some good skill late on, but in the
end in only needed Kone's goal to down Mourinho's star-studded
side. |
