Real Madrid celebrated an important 2:0 home win against promoted Levante on matchday 20 of LaLiga. After a tough first half accompanied by whistles, Kylian Mbappé redeemed the Royals after the break with a penalty, before Raúl Asencio made it 2:0 after a corner from Arda Güler. The victory kept Real Madrid in the race for Champions League places, while Levante remain under pressure in the relegation battle.
When the two teams took to the pitch, an unusually large number of blue seats remained empty at the Bernabéu. Even during the warm-up, whistles mingled with the applause from the stands. Although new coach Álvaro Arbeloa’s team went into the game as clear favourites, they were under pressure after the change of manager and a surprise Copa del Rey exit against second-division side Albacete. Meanwhile, Levante travelled to Madrid as underdogs and desperately needed points at the bottom of the table.
The head-to-head record clearly favoured Real Madrid. In recent years, the Madrilenians had won most of the duels, including a clear 6:0 victory at the Bernabéu, even though Levante occasionally surprised with results such as a 4:0 win against Girona. In the first leg of the current season, Real Madrid had won 4:1 in Valencia.
From the outset, Levante played a defensive 5-4-1 formation and allowed a more dominant Real Madrid to push them back into their own half. Los Blancos repeatedly sought to finish from the second row, but remained harmless. Meanwhile, Levante barely made it past the halfway line. Nevertheless, the first dangerous chance of the game belonged to Los Granotas after a direct free kick centrally in front of the penalty area: Pablo Martinez failed to get past the wall, but got a second shot in, hammering the ball narrowly over the crossbar.
The game spluttered along in the following minutes. Real showed more initiative in their build-up play, but still failed to create any promising chances. Then out of nowhere, after half an hour, the home team had their most threatening attack of the game so far: Raúl Asencio saw Kylian Mbappé running deep and sent him a half-high ball into the gap. The Frenchman skilfully volleyed the ball, but it flew just past Mathew Ryan’s goal. Shortly before half-time, the visitors came close to taking the lead once again, but Martinez’s second free kick once again missed the target by centimeters.
As the half-time whistle blew, the frustration at the Bernabéu erupted in loud boos. Despite their clear superiority, Real Madrid had not managed a single shot on goal in the first half.
The discontent continued after the break, with Arbeloa’s team being greeted with whistles as they returned to the pitch. The new manager responded to his team’s poor performance with a double substitution.
Aurélien Tchouaméni was responsible for the first chance of the second half, but his shot from the edge of the box flew just over the bar. About ten minutes later, Mbappé burst into the penalty area with an explosive dribble, leaving Adrián de la Fuente with no choice but to make a desperate tackle. However, he hit Mbappé’s leg instead of the ball, giving Real Madrid a penalty and some much-needed relief. The fouled striker converted the penalty himself to give his side a 1:0 lead. The goal seemed to liberate the visibly unsettled home team.
Los Blancos showed increased attacking intent after the goal and were rewarded with a 2:0 lead just a few minutes later. Asencio nodded the corner from substitute Arda Güler into the net, leaving Ryan with no chance, and scored his first league goal in front of his home crowd. Shortly afterwards, the feat was almost repeated from another corner taken by Güler, but Asencio put the ball just over the bar.
With the final quarter of an hour approaching, Franco Mastantuono hammered the ball against the crossbar, Jude Bellingham’s header was narrowly saved by the opposing keeper, and the whole team made it clear that they were not going to let anything slip in this game. In the final minutes, Real Madrid did not want to take any more risks, but controlled the game until the final whistle and confidently saw out the points. Nevertheless, the fans were not completely satisfied and whistles could be heard from the stands even after the game. Rarely before had a home win at the Bernabéu been met with so much scepticism.
With the 2:0 win, Real Madrid secured an important victory in a difficult phase. For coach Arbeloa, it is now time to take a deep breath before Monaco awaits in the Champions League on Tuesday. For Levante, on the other hand, the next league match against Elche will be an important battle for points in the fight to avoid relegation.