4 reasons why Real Madrid lost to Levante at the Bernabeu

Real Madrid is in dire crises at the moment, only five months on from winning their third consecutive UEFA Champions League crown in a row, Los Blancos find themselves out of sorts and are struggling with injuries, form, and goals, sitting fifth on the LaLiga standings four points behind table-toppers and eternal rivals Barcelona.

Heading into matchday 8 of LaLiga, Real Madrid would have looked to bounce back from their disappointing performances prior to the international break, which saw them fail to get a victory in four straight matches in all competitions, and, more worryingly, their inability to find the net in each of those matches, posting three shock losses to Sevilla, CSKA Moscow and CD Alaves, while drawing goalless with Atletico at the Bernabeu.

Their opponents were relegation-threatened Levante, who visited the Bernabeu sitting in 18th place and looking sure candidates to be demoted to the Segunda come the end of the season, so very few people would have expected anything other than a routine victory for Real Madrid, but the script went horribly off plan.

Being out of form is a terrible situation in football, and when a club or player experiences a loss in form, they struggle to maintain their usual high standards, so it, therefore, came as not much of a surprise when Real Madrid found themselves two goals down inside 13 minutes of the first half.

Despite rallying to pull a goal back in the second half, the damage had been done and ensured that Real Madrid’s woeful run of late continued and mounted the pressure manager Julen Lopetegui. The defeat to Levante at the Bernabeu was totally unexpected, and here are four reasons why Real Madrid lost the game.

#4 Their defenders failed to cover themselves in glory

It has long since been an established fact that Real Madrid has a very porous defence, as the club struggles to keep clean sheets even against the lowest of opponents, and this is rather appalling for a club the stature of the Bernabeu outfit.

Against Levante however, their defensive shenanigans reached new lows, as both goals scored by the visitors were traceable to defensive lapses.

Firstly, World Cup winner Raphael Varane belied his world-class status when he made a hash of his clearance in the 6th minute, giving Jose Luis Morales a clean run at goal and the 31-year-old made no mistake when presented with the chance, calmly gliding the ball past a hapless Thibaut Courtois before slotting into an empty net.

Just six minutes later, and Varane once more found himself in the middle of a storm as he handled the ball while holding off a Levante attacker, and the referee was left with no option but to point to the spot after consultations with VAR.

Beyond the two errors by Varane, the Real defence was all over the place throughout the match, particularly in the first half when the Levante attackers particularly Jose Morales had a field day, as Ramos and co struggled to hold their lines.

For a club possessing defenders of the highest quality who were each nominated as the starting center-backs in the FIFPro XI to have been exposed in the manner they were by a lowly club like Levante was disappointing, and moving ahead, the leaky defense of Real Madrid is an issue which Lopetegui or any manager who might replace him would have to work on.

#3 They were lacking in creativity

Real Madrid is a world-class team brimming with talent of the highest quality in all departments of the squad, and in the past, goals were not hard to come by owing to the sheer amount of creative players in the squad.

Players such as Isco, Gareth Bale, Marcelo, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos are among the most creative players in the world, but on the day, they found themselves out of rhythm and struggled to influence proceedings in the manner they are accustomed to.

Isco and Luka Modric were virtual spectators in the match, while Marcelo was lacking in his usual pinpoint deliveries from out wide. The resultant effect of this was that most of Real’s chances were limited to crosses from set pieces, as Real were too disjointed to string together innovative plays leading to chances.

Real Madrid failed to effectively control the game, and this inspired Levante to grow into the match with belief that they could pick up something from the match, and this inability to command the match against a much inferior opposition greatly affected the European champion’s ability to create chances from open play, and without chances created, it is impossible to score goals.

#2 Inspired form of Oier and mother luck against them

Real Madrid are one of the most dangerous teams from set pieces, possessing some of the most lethal nodders of the ball, which means clubs are always aware of the threat posed by Los Blancos.

Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale are all extremely dangerous in the air, and their aerial abilities came to the fore against Levante.

Despite struggling to create quality chances from open play, Real were dangerous as usual from set-pieces and found ways to gets shots at goal from deadball situations, with Ramos, Casemiro, Mariano and Lucas Vasquez all had chances to put the home side ahead in the match but found themselves cut short by either the goalkeeper or the post.

Oier Olazabal was highly motivated on the day, saving well from a Bale freekick, and as well pulled off exceptional saves from headers by Ramos and Casemiro, before pulling off the most incredible save of the match when he somehow managed to keep out Lucas Vazquez’ shot from a mere three meters out when the Spaniard had seemed destined to score.

Mother luck was also against Real, as the club had two goals ruled out correctly for offside, while the woodwork also came to the rescue of Levante on two occasions, first from a Casemiro header and later from Mariano.

Good fortune is an essential aspect of the game, and Real Madrid found themselves short of that, and this in addition to the inspired goalkeeping of Oier meant that the odds were always against them getting anything away from the match.

#1 Julen Lopetegui’s curious team selections

Julen Lopetegui made some poor decisions

Real Madrid’s poor run of form always meant that changes would be made to the team as the manager sought to reverse the ugly trend of struggling in front of goal.

A major culprit for Real’s lack of goals has been Karim Benzema, as the club’s number 9 has failed to step up to the plate of leading the team’s attack since the departure of Ronaldo despite starting the season in impressive form.

The 31-year-old is now eight matches without a goal, and Lopetegui took the bold decision to drop him from the starting lineup alongside former most expensive player Gareth Bale, instead, starting a front trio of Lucas Vasquez, Marco Asensio and Mariano.

He also made the curious decision to start Isco despite the midfielder only just returning from an injury, and it was really not surprising that he failed to stamp his authority on the match.

Real Madrid’s play was very disjointed particularly in the first half, and when Julen turned to his bench to make changes, the damage had been done and Real stumbled to their third league defeat in just eight matches.

Coaches have a huge role to play in deciding the outcome of matches not just from their in game tactical moves, but also from the way they set up their team to start up with their starting teams, and in both regards, Lopetegui failed in the match against Levante.

Edited by Victor R. Lopez M.