The first half was entirely different than the second, but despite that both halves clearly demonstrated it’s far too early to give up on Real Madrid in the title race.
Right now, Real Madrid is in a terrible state: a shocking farewell to Xabi Alonso; an unexperienced Alvaro Arbeloa has taken over as coach; a humbling Copa del Rey loss to Albacete, a Segunda divisional team; total disorder in the locker room.
Before the Levante match, there were many disgusting banners spread throughout the city directed at Florentino Perez, the president of Real Madrid, labeling him as a “sellout,” a “traitor” and using every other possible insult available. All players were booed… except for Mbappé and Gonzalo Garcia. Even Courtois received whistles… I have no idea what he did wrong. The most boisterous boos were reserved for Vinícius. He literally cried in the tunnel underneath the stands.
Everybody said that Mbappé wasn’t 100% fit from his injury and therefore wouldn’t play today. However, Kylian decided to go ahead and start regardless, along with Gonzalo Garcia, and then suffered another knock during pre-game warmup after colliding with Hüyjen. The gamble certainly worked out.
Vinícius Júnior – bbc.com
Throughout the Bernabeu the chants of “Florentino, resign!” were deafening. And remember — just prior to kickoff Perez stated that if this sort of protest continued, those supporters will never receive any more ticket to games.
Every time Vinícius touched the ball you could hear the crowd groaning. It nearly seemed as though the boos fueled Vinícius’ fire — in the early stages he pressured the goalkeeper twice in rapid succession. I guess these training sessions under Alonso left a little bit of something behind. Apart from that initial moment however, Vinícius once again disappeared into the recent-Vinícius — whining about a foul call while the opposing team was already advancing.
Real dominated something like 70-80 percent of the possession, but nothing was working up front. Levante positioned themselves in a compact 5-4-1 formation and defended effectively. They even generated a couple of dangerous set-piece opportunities in the box area and, to be honest, they appeared the better side for extended stretches of time. Tchouaméni also picked up a silly yellow card — now he’ll miss the huge Villarreal game.
The first real opportunity arrived at the 34-minute mark: Asensio provided a great chip from deep, Mbappé volleyed first-time… and missed the net. This ended up being the only worthwhile shot in the entire first half. At halftime xG favored the underdog Levante: 0.63 to 0.29. To put this into perspective — Levante are currently ranked 19th in the league.
Arbeloa (who celebrated his birthday yesterday at age 43) made changes at the break — Gonzalo Garcia and Camavinga were substituted out and Güler and Mastantuono were brought in. At 55 minutes Arda produced the first genuine shot on target. Right after that — goal! Mbappé won a penalty after being fouled by De La Fuente and scored it himself. This gives Mbappé 34 goal contributions (30G + 4A) in just 26 appearances.
Kylian Mbappé – bbc.com
Suddenly, the shackles were off. Real began to look like … well, not their best, but at least like a regular Real Madrid. Güler served up a beautiful corner and Asensio headed in a powerful header — 2:0.
Mbappé was sent through alone by Mastantuono — no third goal because Kylian couldn’t get past Ryan up close. Mastantuono then hit the crossbar. Valverde looped one high enough that Bellingham could get to it with his head — Ryan saved. Later, same thing happened when Jude shot toward the near post. Finally, Vinícius came alive: winning battles, beating his opponent, crossing, shooting from distance… and yes, he even received some applause at the end.
No more goals. The final xG numbers showed the extreme difference in favor of Madrid — 2.61 to 0.80.
The fans realized the response to the second-half performance and began to chant “Arbeloa! Arbeloa!”. The second-half displayed that the season is not over yet. Up next are much tougher tests — Villarreal in La Liga (the same team that’s been causing problems but still managed to beat Monaco and Benfica in the Champions League). For now the gap to Barcelona is back down to the bare minimum: tomorrow the Catalans face Real Sociedad.
