La Liga: A shock loss to Levante hangs Real Madrid's La Liga title hopes in the balance

Real Madrid‘s title aspirations this season suffered a huge dent following a surprise 2-1 defeat by Levante on Saturday.

The Los Blancos were reduced to 10 men after just nine minutes when defender Eder Militao was shown a straight red card.

However, they still managed to go ahead first through a Marco Asensio strike just moments later, but Jose Luis Morales pulled one back for Levante before the interval to level the scoreline, with Roger Marti netting the winner 12 minutes from time.

Real still remain seven points behind city rivals Atletico Madrid who travel to Cadiz on Sunday and still have a two-game advantage.

David Bettoni took charge of a Real side bidding to claim back-to-back victories with manager Zinedine Zidane sidelined after contracting coronavirus.

But their task became an uphill one when Militao was given his marching orders after he brought down Sergio Leon.

Then four minutes after Militao’s dismissal, Toni Kroos found Asensio with a delightful pass and his cool finish put the hosts into the lead.

The visitors, however, were undeterred by Real’s opener and, following a number of chances at both ends, Morales netted past Thibaut Courtois with 32 minutes played.

The visitors then got a glorious opportunity to slide ahead from the penalty spot but Marti’s kick was saved by Courtois shortly after the hour mark.

Marti got another opportunity and made amends when he converted Enis Bardhi’s pass with 78 minutes played to give Levante all three points.

Other La Liga match reports…

Sevilla eased to a 2-0 win at Eibar to leapfrog Barcelona into third place on the La Liga table, one point behind Madrid.

Lucas Ocampos opened the scoring for the visitors in the 28th from the penalty spot after Pedro Bigas fouled Youssef En-Nesyri.

After Joan Jordan tapped in Sevilla’s second goal in the 55th, Eibar goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic asked to be substituted and spent the rest of the match in the stands with his left leg propped up.

Valencia pulled away from the relegation battle and into mid-table with a 1-0 home win against Elche, secured by Daniel Wass’ 22nd-minute headed goal.

Elsewhere in La Liga, Alexander Isak scored right at the death to cancel out Dani Parejo’s goal as Real Sociedad forced a 1-1 draw at Villarreal.

Saturday 30th of January 2021

• Eibar 0-2 Sevilla
• Real Madrid 1-2 Levante
• Valencia 1-0 Elche
• Villarreal 1-1 Real Sociedad