Full-time: Real Madrid 2-0 Levante
That is it. A much improved showing from Real even if they tailed off nearing the end. Both goals came courtesy of Bale in the first half, while Ronaldo was left frustrated after spurning numerous chances. Barça are up next at the Nou Camp next Sunday. Levante failed to register a shot on target and were generally awful. Thanks for reading. Bye!
90 min +1: Marcelo crosses from the left, Bale flicks it on to Ronaldo but he strikes with his shin. It’s well wide.
90 min: Three minutes to be added on.
90 min: The free picks out Hernández who heads wide but the linesman’s flag goes up because five (yes, five!) Real players are offside including the Mexico striker.
89 min: Lucas Silva wins a free-kick on the corner of the box. Ramos is up, Marcelo to take.
87 min: A chance for Levante! Casadesus heads over. That’s the closest they have come.
85 min: Ramos is booked for a challenge on Casadesus. Ramos won the ball but the Levante player has made the most of it, rolling around the floor.
Updated
83 min: It’s not going to be Ronaldo’s night. He has another chance to get his name on the scoresheet in a good position on the edge of the D. However his right-footed punt is palmed away by Mariño.
82 min: Gerry Armstrong has just commented on TV that Levante will be really happy to keep it to 2-0. They have the worst defensive record in La Liga … but is that not excessive?
80 min: Benzema is off to be wrapped in cotton wool. Javier Hernández is on in his place.
79 min: Some nice play between Benzema and Ronaldo results in only a backwards pass. Levante still have eight players back despite being 2-0 down with a little over 10 to play. How dull.
76 min: Modric, who has been outstanding in midfield, is taken off – to be saved for next week? – in place of Illarramendi.
Updated
72 min: Final Levante sub sees Casadesus replace Uche, who looked lonely and isolated as the visitors’ most attacking player (which often meant defending near the halfway line).
70 min: Benzema feeds Bale but the Welshman is offside.
69 min: They are playing with four strikers! From right to left: Jesé, Ronaldo, Benzema, Bale.
68 min: Isco’s night is over, Jesé comes on for him. Bale looks to be dropping back into midfield – unless they plan to play with four strikers.
66 min: They cannot stop showing replays of that on TV. Everyone apart from Ancelotti is smiling. The manager continues to chew gum ferociously.
64 min: Oh Karim Benzema! He has extracted the urine big time here with the most ludicrous attempt you’re likely to see for a very long time. Ronaldo sends a cross in from the right and the Frenchman decides to flick it sideways with the outside of his right boot with his leg bent in the most unorthodox angle. The effort crashes off the left-sided post and his rebound goes over. But if that went in …!
62 min: How big an advantage is it for Real Madrid that they have the week to rest while Barça need to face Man City in the Champions League on Wednesday?
60 min: It’s all very flat now. Real dominating possession, Levante lacking in almost every department. But little in the way of goalmouth action.
57 min: Levante make a double change. El Zhar and Rubén are on in place of Xumetra and Morales.
52 min: Marcelo overhits a cross which Carvajal sends back in towards Ronaldo but his header is wide. Real may be winning, but he is growing increasingly agitated.
50 min: Levante haven’t gotten a sniff since the restart, mind. Don’t think it’s presumptuous to say it’s a case of how many do Real want. The latest chance: Isco plays to Marcelo, who crosses to Benzema but he volleys over.
49 min: Just as I write that, Modric makes a late tackle. He is already on a yellow and does not want to be suspended for next weekend’s titanic tussle. Best rein it in.
48 min: Modric has made such a difference for Real here. He’s brought a calming influence to the midfield and his passing has, as per usual, been exceptional.
Peep!
46 min: Real Madrid get us going again.
Apropos of nothing, here is a half-time musical interlude.
HALF-TIME: Real Madrid 2-0 Levante
Gareth Bale is one goal away from taking the match ball home. Ronaldo may be a little unimpressed by the second, though. Thief!
Email from Mark Turner. We’d all like to see this, I think. Apart from Ronaldo.
If there is a penalty tonight, I double dog dare Bale to snatch the ball out of CR7’s hands before he puts it on the spot.
41 min: Bale was booed by some in the crowd for that goal, bizarrely. Anyway … Ronaldo goes close again, heading just over.
GOAL! Real Madrid 2-0 Levante (Bale)
40 min: Bale scores it but it comes from Ronaldo’s strike. The Portuguese shoots towards goal but Bale adds a touch and the Welshman is credited with it. Cue headlines of a rift between the two in the Catalan press tomorrow!
37 min: Levante’s good spell continues and they make a foray forward. It ends with Ramis being blocked by Modric. Real break with Benzema. Ronaldo is with him and is screaming for the ball. But the France striker’s touch is too heavy and he runs into trouble. Do Ronaldo not like that.
35 min: Levante are enjoying a brief spell of possession but it’s all harmless passing across the back.
33 min: This is much more like the Real we are familiar with. Marcelo, advanced on the left, picks out Bale at the back-post. He kills a pacy pass dead with one touch before flicking it square to Ronaldo. His flick breaks down but that was a lovely few seconds.
Updated
30 min: Levante reach the Real box. But the ball runs out harmlessly for a goal-kick.
28 min: Bale is inches away from a second with a deflected cross onto the crossbar. He wins a corner. Modric takes again and it’s, yep, Bale who connects. He heads narrowly over.
25 min: Bale, on the left this time, sends a low cross to Ronaldo. His deft flick is heading towards goal but Ramis gets a vital foot in the way to deny Real their second. That was their 10th attempt of the game so far. Levante stuck on zero and likely to for a while yet.
In reference to that earlier Ronaldo free-kick that crashed against the wall.
Cristiano's last 54 free kicks (club and country) 22 into wall (41%) 18 on goal (33%) 13 off frame (24%) 01 woodwork (2%) And ZERO goals...
— MisterChip (English) (@MisterChiping) March 15, 2015
23 min: Another Real corner is parried by a nervy looking Mariño but he saves at the second time of asking.
21 min: That has settled things down for Real. Now can they produce a performance to send the supporters home happy? They have had 78% of the ball and, really, Levante are not up to much. Even now, a goal behind, they are trying to keep the shutters down.
19 min: Benzema crosses from the right of the area to Ronaldo. His acrobatic attempt is cleared off the line and Bale tucks the rebound into the bottom left corner with his right foot.
GOAL! Real Madrid 1-0 Levante (Bale)
18 min: The drought has ended for Gareth Bale!
Updated
17 min: Bale wins a corner off Toño. Modric takes, Bale heads it downwards and it is turned around Mariño’s left-handed post for another corner. Ronaldo and Bale leap together but neither can connect with Modric’s second delivery.
16 min: Modric has a pop from 25 yards which Mariño parries. Benzema sends the rebound into the net but he’s three yards offside.
15 min: Bale comes back into his own half to pick up possession. And the Real fans applaud him for it.
13 min: He drives it straight into a six-man wall.
11 min: Simao brings down Ronaldo in Ronaldo territory. What can he do with this free-kick?
10 min: Carvajal and Bale try to link up but the former’s return pass is overhit and the ball rolls out for a Levante goal-kick,
9 min: … that is headed wide by a static Pepe.
9 min: Ronaldo wins a corner on the left flank.
8 min: Carvajal picks out Modric who runs into Levante’s eight-man defence – and that number is not a joke.
5 min: Ronaldo is fed by Benzema but his effort comes crashing back off Mariño’s right-sided post with the Levante goalkeeper beaten.
4 min: Levante have barely touched the ball so far. They are used to being thumped by Real – they’ve lost their past six trips to the Bernabéu including an 8-0 and they lost 5-0 at home earlier in the season. It could be a very long night.
2 min: Marcelo finds Bale in the area. He chests, then controls it with his knee before turning and shooting narrowly wide. What a start that would have been.
Peep!
Levante get us going, in blue and red stripes, playing from right to left. Real are in all white, as you’d expect.
The teams emerge from the tunnel to … cheers! How long will they continue? And if Madrid are held scoreless for a bit, will the home support turn on their players? Let’s see: the off is moments away.
Teams
Real Madrid: Navas; Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo; Lucas Silva, Modric, Isco; Ronaldo, Benzema Bale.
Levante: Mariño; López, Navarro, Ramis, Toño; Xumetra, Camarasa, Simao, Morales; Barral, Uche.
Booooo! Booooooo!! Booooooooooooo!!!
Boo! Booooooo! Boooooooooo! Welcome to live coverage of boo watch Real Madrid v Levante. These are peculiar times for Carlo Ancelotti and his misfiring stars. They are into the Champions League quarter-finals but the wrath incurred at the end of the midweek defeat to Schalke will live long in their memory. Progressing is not quite enough for a fanbase with the highest expectation levels across the world.
One could easily argue that Real fans are spoilt brats but it cannot be ignored when you look at the abundance of talent in the squad that they are performing well below their capabilities. Hence why Ancelotti is under pressure to produce not just a win – which they badly need to move to within a point of the leaders, Barcelona, who won 2-0 at Eibar yesterday afternoon – but a much improved performance. Style as well as substance is required to ease off those seething supporters at the Bernabéu.
Levante, on the other hand, have not won away from home since September and reside third from bottom. They have triumphed in three of the past five league games though and are only three points off a respectable 14th position.
In the run up to kickoff, why not have a read of Sid Lowe on Real’s present woes.
The Real Madrid president, Florentino Pérez, insisted that the coach Carlo Ancelotti will continue at the club “whatever happens” but avoided saying for how long, during a 35-minute press conference in which he bit the hand he has been feeding.
Pérez called the media to the Santiago Bernabéu and then turned on them, accusing them of creating an “atmosphere of negativity” and having an “agenda” against Madrid and against him after waking on Thursday to the front page of Marca. The sports newspaper’s cover story claimed that Ancelotti would be sacked if his team produced another “debacle” in the clásico against Barcelona in 10 days’ time.
You can read the full story here.
Keep your handkerchief close. Kickoff is 9pm in Madrid, 8pm GMT. Teams to follow.
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