On Saturday, four matches of the 3rd round of the Spanish "La Liga" championship were played.
The "Santiago Bernabeu" stadium saw its favorite team, Madrid's "Real", fail to win for the second time in a row - with an experimental lineup, they couldn't beat Valencia's "Levante".
Zinedine Zidane started the match decisively - Luka Modric, Casemiro, and Isco were not in the starting lineup. In the 12th minute, the "whites" were punished - Ivi scored past Keylor Navas in goal, who replaced Kiko Casilla.
After conceding, "Real" stepped up their game, but they couldn't break through the "Levante" defense easily. In the 36th minute, Lucas Vazquez also scored the equalizing goal from a set-piece.
In the first half, there were no significant events, but in the 28th minute, the hosts lost their only forward - Karim Benzema couldn't continue the match due to injury.
In the second half, a tough battle continued. "Real" didn't allow any dangerous chances for the opponents, but they also didn't shine in attack.
The end of the match was even sadder for the hosts - in the 89th minute, Marcelo received a red card and "Real" had to play with ten men. In the final moments, Toni Kroos had a shot, but no more dangerous chances were created, and the match ended in a draw.
For the Spanish champions, this was a painful draw, as they also dropped points in the previous round against another Valencia team. "Real" now has two draws and one win in their account.
In other matches, another Madrid club, "Atletico", played a goalless draw with "Valencia", and "Sevilla" defeated "Eibar".
In the last match of the evening, "Barcelona" faced off against "Espanyol" in front of their fans. In the Barcelona derby, "Barca" triumphed, leaving no hope for their opponents.
Lionel Messi scored three goals in the match, in the 26th, 35th, and 67th minutes, while Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez added goals at the end of the match.
"Barcelona" leads the Spanish championship with 9 points, holding a 4-point advantage over their biggest rivals, "Real".
Results:
"Real Madrid" 1 - 1 "Levante"
12' [0 - 1] Ivi
36' [1 - 1] L. Vazquez
89' Marcelo ("Real") sent off
"Valencia" 0 - 0 "Atletico"
"Sevilla" 3 - 0 "Eibar"
46' [1 - 0] Ganso
76' [2 - 0] W. Ben Yedder
90' [3 - 0] Nolito
"Barcelona" 5 - 0 "Espanyol"
26' [1 - 0] L. Messi
35' [2 - 0] L. Messi
67' [3 - 0] L. Messi
87' [4 - 0] G. Pique
90' [5 - 0] L. Suarez
Tournament table:
