Real Madrid defeated Levante 2-0, courtesy of a Kylian Mbappé penalty and a Raúl Asencio header, in a hostile Estadio Bernabéu to give Álvaro Arbeloa his first win since being appointed as Xabi Alonso’s successor on Monday.
In a tumultuous past week for Los Merengues, which started with Alonso’s departure after Sunday’s 3-2 defeat to Barcelona in the Supercopa de España final before a shock midweek loss to second division side Albacete in the round-of-16 of the Copa del Rey, victory over Levante in Arbeloa’s first home game in charge was nothing short of the bare minimum.
And if Arbeloa, a man who won a La Liga title and two Champions Leagues as a player for Los Blancos, had been hoping for a pleasant homecoming from the Madrid faithful, he was to be left extremely disappointed. A confrontational atmosphere greeted the new manager and his players, with deafening whistles consistently ringing out from a disgruntled Bernabéu crowd.
Despite making six changes from midweek and having recalled several key names to the starting XI including Jude Bellingham, Álvaro Carreras and Mbappé, Arbeloa’s side started in a lacklustre fashion and struggled to create any openings, which did little to improve the home support’s mood.
Although they enjoyed over 70% possession inside the opening half-hour, Madrid were unable to force visiting goalkeeper Matthew Ryan into any sort of action early on. Levante, playing on the counter-attack, looked the more likely to open the scoring and had several half-chances through captain Pablo Martínez and Kareem Tunde. The former went the closest of any player from either side to breaking the deadlock, whistling a free-kick past Thibaut Courtois’ left-hand post and into the side-netting.
During the first 45 minutes, Los Merengues managed just one effort on target, as Gonzalo García headed straight into the arms of Ryan, and a below-par performance from the hosts was met with another round of boos as the players walked down the tunnel for half-time.
Arbeloa took off Eduardo Camavinga and García at half-time, bringing on Arda Güler and Franco Mastantuono in an attempt to provide Madrid with some much-needed attacking inspiration. The hosts certainly were significantly improved after the interval, and went closer to scoring inside the opening ten minutes of the second half than they had managed for the entirety of the first, as the Turk rifled a left-footed strike from the edge of the box that Ryan did well to parry away.
Madrid continued to pile forward and, within the next quarter of an hour, had taken the game out of Levante’s reach. Mbappé opened the scoring from twelve yards with a composed finish down the middle, netting his 19th league goal of the season and 50th since signing for the club, after the Frenchman had been brought down in the area by a clumsy Adrián de la Fuente lunge.
Los Merengues doubled their lead only seven minutes later, Asencio powering home a fantastic header from a Güler corner in the 65th minute to score for consecutive league games after he had also bagged in the 5-1 rout over Betis.
In truth, Madrid could have made the scoreline even more one-sided, as Ryan made a string of impressive saves to deny both Mbappé and Bellingham on several occasions, while Mastantuono crashed a glorious effort from 25 yards off the bar and Guler cushioned a volley narrowly wide.
The result means that Los Blancos have closed the gap to current league leaders Barcelona to a singular point, ahead of their Catalan rivals’ trip to Real Sociedad tomorrow evening, while Levante remain in 19th, four points adrift of safety.
Madrid now face a crucial Champions League clash at home to Monaco on Tuesday before a tough visit to 3rd-placed Villarreal in a week’s time. Meanwhile, the loss brings to an end a run of three league games unbeaten for Las Granotas, who will hope for a more positive result in their fight against relegation when they welcome Elche to the Estadio Ciudad de Valencia in their next outing on Friday night.
Match Officials: Referee: Miguel Sesma Espinosa; Video Assistant Referee: Javier Iglesias Villanueva; Assistant Referee 1: Ion Rodríguez Portela; Assistant Referee 2: Mario Martín-Consuegra Díaz; Fourth Official: Juan Antonio Campos Salinas; Assistant VAR Official: Francisco José Hernández Maeso
Real Madrid Lineup: Courtois; Asencio (subbed for Alaba, 90’), Tchouaméni, Huijsen (subbed for Ceballos, 61’), Carreras; Valverde, Camavinga (subbed for Güler, 46’), Bellingham; Vinicius, Mbappé, Gonzalo (subbed for Mastantuono, 46’) Levante Lineup: Ryan; Toljan, De la Fuente, Matturro, Manu Sánchez; Vencedor (subbed for Raghouber, 66’), Pablo Martínez; Tunde (subbed for Espí, 83’), Carlos Álvarez (subbed for Cortés, 83’), Iván Romero (subbed for Olasagasti, 83’); Etta Eyong (subbed for Losada, 66’)