La Liga: Vinicius Junior saves Real Madrid a point in a drama against Levante

In an eventless first half, scanning was the order of the day before an impressive group secured Real’s early opening goal. David Alaba played a superb header into Karim Benzema’s pipe from his half from the left in the fifth minute. This penetrated into the penalty area, where he slowed down and calmly crossed over to Gareth Bale. The Welsh international hit flat from about 13 metres to make it 1-0.

The setback did not bother the underdog, and he initially played bravely forward. Before the danger zone, it was mostly finished for Granotta. They lacked the creativity and punch needed to beat the last streak of Los Blancos and come to a conclusion from the most promising positions.

Ancelotti-Elf didn’t invest much in the match after their goal. In the 38th minute, Bale narrowly missed a free kick, but a two-goal lead was not necessarily appropriate.

After the break, a lot was shown to 9,838 spectators at the Estadio Ciudad de Valencia. The owners of the land turned the game in the first quarter of an hour after the end of the first half.

Only a few seconds have passed since the restart when the doorbell rang. Roger Marty was somewhat happily presented at the top by Gonzalo Millero. On the right in the penalty area, in front of him was only Thibaut Courtois, who saved Roger’s low shot but could not block the blow to make it 1-1 because the ball rolled over the goal line (46).

After 11 minutes, Jorge de Frutos sent a cross from the right to the left half of the penalty area, as Jose Campania raised the ball up to make it 2-1 in the near corner.

Then Levante withdrew. The host’s focus was now on managing results. The riyal did not initially find the appropriate solution to the deficit.

In the last minutes, after a dream pass from Casemiro and a harsh finish from Vinicius Junior, Granotas conceded the goal 2-2 (73), and they responded quickly with a goal with a 3-2 score. Ines Bardi from the left sent a free kick in the 79th minute. At the far post, Alaba did not manage to clear the ball, so that the ball rebounded from the Austrian in the fifth. There Robert Pierre was executed for renewed leadership at Levante.

Real Madrid responded to this renewed setback with Vinicius Junior’s second goal that evening, making it 3-3. Alaba passed in the 85th minute to Benzema, who slipped vertically to Vinicius Junior on the left in the penalty area. The Brazilian striker shot the ball from a very sharp angle to the right post, where it flew into the penalty area.

Shortly before the end of the match, goalkeeper Aitor Fernandez had to go red due to a handball outside his penalty area (87th place). Since Levante coach Jose Lopez Fernandez has already exhausted his transition team, Ruben Fieso, a field player, entered the goal, but was not checked.

Game sounds:

Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid coach): “We lost two points. It’s hard to explain what happened. After giving up we were afraid – that’s football, that’s nothing new. We leave with a bad feeling about the first half.”

Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid): “We always have to score three points. One point is never good for Real Madrid. It was a game with a lot of goals, but also a lot of focus. We can still go home with a good feeling because we played a good game. But we have to focus more – just like We did against Alaves in the first round.”

Tweet about the game:

Who could have guessed after this first half?

Observed: On the trail of Chicharito and Neymar

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti showed a golden hand by substituting late double-packer Vinicius Junior in the 59th minute for an inconspicuous Eden Hazard. He became the first player since 2014 to score twice as a wild card in a match with Los Blancos in La Liga. At the time, Chicharito achieved the feat in Real Madrid’s 8-2 victory over Deportivo La Coruna in September. In addition, Vinicius Junior is the second Brazilian to score two goals in this competition after being substituted. Previously, only Neymar was able to do this, who in September seven years ago scored twice as a substitute for Barcelona (79./84.) and thus helped Barcelona win 2-0 at Athletic Bilbao.

Statistics: 578

Bale has long stood at 105 goals with Real Madrid. He had to wait 578 days to get his number 106.