BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – Real Madrid faced jeers from disgruntled fans before Kylian Mbappé scored to give Levante a 2-0 win in the Spanish league on Saturday.
The Santiago Bernabéu crowd whistled, booed and waved white handkerchiefs before the opening kick-off to express their anger at the consecutive defeats and sudden change of manager.
Madrid sacked Xabi Alonso after losing to Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final last weekend, but the team lost to the second division team in the Copa del Rey in Alonso’s debut.
New manager Álvaro Albelao and his players, who were promoted from the B team, could not afford another blunder against relegation-threatened Levante in front of their home supporters.
However, Levante produced as much attacking power as Madrid showed in the first half. Mbappe broke the deadlock with a penalty in the 58th minute after being fouled by Adrian de la Fuente.
In the 65th minute, Raul Asensio scored a header from a corner kick by Alda Güler, increasing the lead to two points.
“It was important to win today,” Arbeloa said. “We knew where we were coming from. We had a difficult week that wasn’t easy to get through. We accomplished that by winning in front of our fans.”
Mbappé, who had featured in just one of Madrid’s last four games, returned to the starting XI after recovering from a left knee sprain.
Regular starters including Jude Bellingham have also returned to the starting XI after manager Arbeloa left the England midfielder and other key players out of the squad following Wednesday’s humiliating defeat in the Copa del Rey against Albacete.
Despite their woes, Madrid moved within one point of Barcelona ahead of leaders Barcelona’s visit to Real Sociedad on Sunday.
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