Spanish League: Real Madrid go down 0-1at Levante

Sep 19, 2011 |

MADRID

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Ten-man Real Madrid crashed to a 1-0 defeat at modest Levante on Sunday, a morale-sapping setback coming just 24 hours after bitter rivals Barcelona had staged an eight-goal masterclass against Osasuna on Saturday.

Real rested Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Ozil as they looked to maintain their 100 percent record and keep pace with leaders Valencia, who beat Sporting Gijon 1-0, and Real Betis, who defeated Athletic Bilbao 3-2, to keep up their own perfect starts.

But the loss left Jose Mourinho's side in fourth spot, three points behind Valencia and Betis, and one back from Barcelona.

Real had plenty of possession but Levante defended resolutely.

Kaka missed an early chance and Karim Benzema was a danger but Real's task became a lot harder following the dismissal of Sami Khedira for a second yellow card.

Ronaldo was brought on after the break but Real still were unable to create clear-cut chances and instead they were caught on the break through Arouna Kone who grabbed the only goal in the 68th minute.

"I think that while we had eleven against eleven we were fine and the opposition never went further than the halfway line," said Real coach Jose Mourinho.

"There are players at Madrid who have not adapted to foul play and are not comfortable with it. One of my players (Khedira) was to blame because he knew what was going to happen.

"However, at the same time we had a clear penalty which was not given and they should have had a player sent off. We should also have made more of the openings in the first half to win the match."

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