Steven Petrov
The Paw Print
Real Madrid’s team dominated their Sunday afternoon home game against Levante UD and won with 3:0. The goal scorers for Real were Cristiano Ronaldo (11th minute), Marcelo Vieira (49th minute), and an own goal by Nikolaos Karabelas (81st minute). These goals added a significantly important 3 points to “los blancos” record, which put them 4 points ahead of their all-time rivals, FC Barcelona. The beautiful and important victory was saddened by the unexpected and unfortunate injury of Daniel Carvajal in the 90th minute. Real Madrid’s coach, Carlo Anceloti, chose the traditional 4-3-3 with Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, and Cristiano Ronaldo upfront. The only surprising change in the starting line up of the home team was the presence of Rafael Varane there instead of Pepe. Varane suffered a number of injuries over the last year and recently recovered from his most recent one.
The game was pretty much run by the home team, after starting and finishing the game really well. The first chance for Real was in the 2nd minute when Angel Di Maria put a dangerous cross inside Levante’s 18-yeard box, but the ball was successfully cleared. In the 6th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo had his first chance to score in the game after a perfectly served cross, which the 2013 Ballon D’or winner shot from the air, but the phenomenal reaction by Levante’s goalkeeper, Keylor Navas, kept the game scoreless. However, Real Madrid’s attacks kept on going, showing “los blancos’” desire to score and fully take control of the events on the field. In the 11th minute, after a beautiful cross by Angel Di Maria, Real Madrid and Portugal’s top goal-scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo, headed the ball in the back of Levante’s net.
The home team kept on looking for a second goal until the end of the first half. The French forward for Real, Benzema, hit the crossbar after a header in the additional time of the first half. The leaders in La Liga started the second half in the same manner, and only 4 minutes into the second half, CR7 surpassed 3 Levante players on the left flank and assisted Marcelo, who finished in an exceptionally technical and flashy way. The visiting team was struggling to organize attacks and goal scoring opportunities.
The Sunday afternoon became even worse for Levante UD in the 64th minute when their center defender, David Navaro, was sent off with after slide, tackling Cristiano Ronaldo from behind. Navaro got a straight red card for this tackle. This pretty much pre determined the outcome of the game. Real Madrid created few other goal scoring chances until the end of the game, and in the 81st minute, after a “dangerous” cross from the left flank, Nikolaos Karabelas put the ball in the back of his own net, while trying to clear it away.
This game was of incredible importance for “los blancos” because it allowed them to extend their lead in front of FC Barcelona to 4 points before the upcoming “El Classico” on March 23rd.
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