LaLiga 2018/19: 3 Reasons why Real Madrid lost to Levante
In their 9th LaLiga match of the season, Real Madrid hosted Levante hoping to regain their form. Their historical goalless streak was a real worry for the fans and Madrid badly needed a victory in front of their home crowd to restore some hopes of winning the league title.
However, the string of disappointing performances continued as Levante secured a two-goal lead at the end of the first half. Morales opened the account at the 6th minute with a good counterattacking goal and Roger added to the trouble of Madrid with a calm penalty shot at the 13th minute.
Real Madrid looked like their usual self in the second half and Marcelo gave the Santiago Bernabeu crowd something to cheer for with a thunderous strike. But at the end, it was not enough and Madrid succumbed to yet another defeat. Here are the 3 factors for their loss.
#1. Varane’s poor defending
The one bright spot in Madrid’s disastrous start to this season has been Varane’s defending with him covering all the empty space left by Ramos with pace and pinpoint tackles. But, he looked off-colour during this game and was the main reason for Levante’s two goals.
In the 6th minute, Morales ran into the huge empty space in the middle of the pitch and Varane who was tracking him should have made a tackle but strangely he left Morales to run even deeper and Madrid eventually paid the price for it.
The second one was a silly handball at the edge of the penalty box and Roger scored and added some salt to the wound. Varane has been on a very tight schedule for the past 1 year and it seems as if all the heavy work is finally getting to him. Two high pressure international clashes during the break also did not help his cause.