Football Live

Sunday January 13, 2008 Finished

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Levante U.D

Real Madrid

  • Van Nistelrooy 76’ (pen.), 88’

  • Live Commentary

    Time:90'
    • Levante U.D
    • Real Madrid
    • - Thank you for spending your Sunday with us - we'll be back with FA Cup replay action in midweek, so hopefully you will return for our LIVE text commentary on the key games and scoring on the lot.
    • 90+3' And that is it, the whistle sounds. Madrid are seven points clear again at the top.
    • 90+3' Raul tries a cheeky chip for Madrid then Riga wins a last corner for Levante that is headed over the top...
    • 90' Levante with another corner late on that threatens something but ultimately fails to deliver a goal. They just need a cutting edge in attack.
    • 88' VAN NISTELROOY BANGS IN A SECOND!! Madrid hit Levante on the counter and Guti fed the former Manchester United man on the edge of the box - he struck it into the far bottom corner.
    • 87' Levante sub: Felix Ettien on for Courtois.
    • 86' Riga down the right to the by-line and cutting inside... he feeds a ball across but Pepe is there to cut it out. Levante still pressing when they can.
    • 84' Madrid sub: Royston Drenthe on for Robinho. The clock ticks down.
    • 81' Casillas is down 'hurt' after a clash with Riga. He takes all the time in the world to recover despite the fact that there was barely any contact. Levante corner...
    • 80' Pepe with a poor piece of defensive play to allow Riga to snatch the ball and to his credit he backtracks to force a goal-kick - but that was very risky from the expensive defender.
    • 79' Madrid always look so much more comfortable when they are leading and the other team is forced to chase the ball, much like Barcelona.
    • 76' Van Nistelrooy sticks the ball into the bottom corner and Madrid will get out of jail again tonight, it seems. 1-0.
    • 75' PENALTY FOR MADRID!! Higuain's ball into the box was knocked away by Jose Serrano's elbow and Borbalan pointed to the spot.
    • 74' Riga crosses and Iborra heads at goal... he puts it wide from the penalty spot!!
    • 72' Levante sub: Juanma cannot continue after all and Saul comes on.
    • 71' Madrid change: Gonzalo Higuain on for Sneijder.
    • 70' ROBINHO HITS THE POST!! A great tackle by Van Nistelrooy put him through and as Kujovic went to ground, he picked his spot... and rolled the ball against the near post! After that he was taken out by Alvaro in the penalty area but the ref had already blown. A let-off for the home team.
    • 69' Levante make a change now: Pedro Leon leaves, Vicente Iborra arrives.
    • 68' He has a change of heart and heads back out onto the pitch. If his ankle is okay, that is a massive plus for Levante.
    • 66' Juanma receives the ball out wide and slips slightly... he limps off the pitch with a knock. He has been one of the danger men for Levante but will now have to make way.
    • 63' Van Nistelrooy caught offside from a Guti threaded pass - he draws his shot wide anyway. Madrid are looking better now, but good work from Riga and Courtois a moment before on the break gave them another scare...
    • 61' Raul steals the ball from Berson and attacks the space in the final third before shooting to the near post... where Kujovic falls onto it. Positive play.
    • 59' Guti has options in the final third but opts to shoot. His left-footed effort is not the usual sublime stuff you expect from him, given time on the ball. Kujovic saves comfortably low down.
    • 58' Van Nistelrooy is caught offside as he latches onto a ball over the top, but it was marginal.
    • 57' 'La Bestia' may have been hurt in a tackle from Tommasi a few minutes ago - the former Roma hero was fortunate not to be booked a second time...
    • 56' Madrid substitution: fans' favourite Guti replaces Baptista.
    • 55' Madrid with a well-worked move that ends with a Sneijder volley into row Z. They have awoken.
    • 54' MADRID ALMOST TAKE THE LEAD!! Baptista arrived and headed at goal, it was blocked by a man in a Levante shirt and he got a boot to it again - this time it struck the post before being hacked away!!
    • 51' Juanma centres for RIGA... the Dutchman's header is heading for the top corner, but Casillas plucks it out of the air.
    • 51' Madrid are playing very poorly tonight. Levante are closing them down brilliantly in defence and nicking it away from them...
    • 48' Riga on the ball in the box for the home team. He cannot turn to get a shot off but his strike partner Leon is teed up... he bangs a shot wide of the near post!! He caught that well.
    • 47' Los Merengues on the ball early in this half... Levante break out...
    • 46' The players re-emerge and kick off for the second half. Madrid now kicking to the left as we look at it.
    • - No changes at half-time.
    • 45+2' Real Madrid defend Courtois's ball in from the right and the whistle goes for the half. Madrid are lucky to be level - Barcelona fans will be cautiously optimistic.
    • 45+1' Robinho on the ball again, trying to execute a step-over in the Levante half and he loses it... Juanma is released on the right wing and there is the little Brazilian tracking back... foul awarded against him! That was harsh.
    • 44' Madrid will go seven points clear of Barça with three points - but unless they start to perform, Bernd Schuster will start to get it in the neck from the Spanish media.
    • 42' Robinho finally gets a touch on the ball - he has not done anything yet - and is tackled by Tommasi. The veteran is running all over midfield closing down for Levante.
    • 40' Sneijder on his backside after controlling the ball with his arm at full-length. He looks aggrieved as referee Fernandez Borbalan blows up.
    • 39' Pedro Leon refuses to give up on a ball that is being shadowed out of play, to applause from the crowd. They have worked very hard up to now. Can they keep it up for 90 minutes though?
    • 37' Pepe concedes a corner that Levante cannot exploit. They are still well on top of Madrid in this first half.
    • 36' Raul and Van Nistelrooy offside as Gago flicks a ball through towards them.
    • 34' Harmless passing from Madrid that ends when Gago tries to find the Ruud man through the middle. It is over-hit.
    • 32' Courtois feeds Rubiales as he overlaps him on the left... another corner for Levante, but Casillas allows the resultant ball in to run out for a goal-kick.
    • 31' He receives a yellow card for the challenge as he hobbles off.
    • 31' Damiano Tommasi is hurt after flying into a tackle on Julio Baptista.
    • 30' Riga down the right for Levante, stopped by a retreating Pepe. He concedes a throw in an attacking position. The 'Granotes' probe further but Madrid stand firm.
    • 27' Madrid are settling into the match, with Sneijder in particular looking to stamp his authority onto proceedings.
    • 25' The following corner results in the ball pinging around the area and past the wrong side of the post again - the wrong side as far as the home side are concerned anyway!
    • 24' Levante on the charge, winning another corner. Riga puts it in and Alvaro almost scores with his head!
    • 23' BAPTISTA ALMOST SCORES - AND ALMOST SCORES A SECOND TIME!! He turned a corner kick towards the bottom corner where Luis Rubiales blocked on the line - then had another pop, the same defender stopping the ball with his chest before goalkeeper Vladan Kujovic gratefully grabbed it.
    • 20' Levante have been shocking this season, as their position in the table shows, but are clearly raising their game for the visit of Madrid. They look more inventive in midfield than their illustrious rivals.
    • 17' Juanma is finding space down the right to exploit. Madrid look poor so far - but as anyone who saw their win over Zaragoza last weekend will tesify, that means little in terms of their chances of winning! They have won five on the trot in La Liga and are unbeaten in seven.
    • 15' Still Levante throw men into the danger area to threaten Casillas's goal - and again they almost take the lead, Pedro Leon so close to getting on the end of a cross.
    • 14' Laurent Courtois with a sensational turn in the box from a corner to leave his marker standing and Levante almost score through Juanma - Cannavaro diverting behind for another corner!!
    • 11' Madrid knock the ball around in midfield but Alvaro intercepts when they look to break into the final third. Levante have started brightly.
    • 10' Alvaro smacks into Sneijder deliberately and is lucky not to go into the book.
    • 9' Wesley Sneijder, coming in from the right, tries to play a pair of one-twos but the latter with Raul is blocked and Van Nistelrooy is flagged for offside.
    • 7' Levante again through the middle here with Mathieu Berson, but he cannot find striker Mustapha Riga with a through-ball.
    • 5' Madrid now on the attack as Ruud van Nistelrooy, back after a rest, looks to find Fernando Gago. He fails.
    • 3' Levante swing in a free-kick that ALVARO MEETS WITH HIS HEAD... great stop by Iker Casillas!! He blocked the defender's attempt from six yards out.
    • 1' The match is underway, Madrid kicking from left to right in traditional white while Levante are wearing maroon and navy blue.
    • - Madrid are without Arjen Robben, Gabriel Heinze and Christoph Metzelder through injury, while Sergio Ramos is suspended and Mahamadou Diarra is at the African Cup of Nations. Fabio Cannavaro and Julio Baptista are fit.
    • - Madrid will look to extend their lead at the top over Barcelona to seven points once again after the Catalan club won 4-0 against Murcia on Saturday. Levante are 13 points from safety and nine behind Deportivo, who are above them...
    • - Welcome to eurosport.yahoo.com's LIVE text commentary as bottom club Levante welcome Liga leaders Real Madrid to their Ciudat de Valencia home.

  • Team Stats

    Levante U.D Stats Real Madrid
    33% Possession 66%
    15 Shots 15
    1 Shots on target 7
    2 Saves 1
    8 Corners 1
    12 Fouls 15
    0 Offsides 8
    1 Yellow cards 0
    0 Red cards 0
    23 Tackles 27
    192 Accurate passes 472
    48 Bad passes 67

  • Player Stats

    G =
    Goals
    S =
    Shots
    SoT =
    Shot on Target
    F =
    Fouls
    FW =
    Fouls Won
    O =
    Offsides
    A =
    Assists
    AP =
    Accurate Passes
    BP =
    Bad Passes
    T =
    Tackles
    • Levante U.D
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 Vladan Kujovic 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 0
      4 Alvaro Luiz Maior de Aquino 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 20 0 2
      17 Luis Manuel Rubiales 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 15 12 2
      23 Inaki Descarga 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 12 0 4
      18 José Serrano 0 2 0 2 1 0 0 21 4 0
      10 Riga Mustapha 0 4 1 1 3 0 0 17 7 2
      12 Mathieu Berson 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 27 9 4
      15 Damiano Tommasi 0 3 0 3 1 0 0 25 6 5
      22 Juan Manuel Gómez Sánchez 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 8 1 1
      21 Laurent Courtois 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 23 6 1
      14 Pedro León Sanchez Gil 0 3 0 0 3 0 0 11 3 1
      7 Felix Ettien 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
      26 Saúl Fernández Garcia 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0
      32 Armando Lozano Sánchez 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      3 David Castedo Escudero 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      27 Tejera Tejera 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      30 Juan Luis Iborra 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1
      16 Miguel Ángel Lozano Ayala 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    • Real Madrid
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 Iker Casillas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 0
      5 Fabio Cannavaro 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 42 0 2
      12 Marcelo Vieira da Silva Júnior 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 50 17 5
      22 Miguel Torres Gómez 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 40 1 4
      3 Képler Laveran Lima Ferreira 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 47 2 1
      19 Julio Baptista 0 4 2 1 4 0 0 35 12 1
      8 Fernando Gago 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 73 10 6
      23 Wesley Sneijder 0 1 1 2 3 0 0 41 3 1
      7 Raúl González Blanco 0 5 1 1 0 3 0 26 6 0
      17 Ruud van Nistelrooy 2 2 2 1 2 4 0 25 5 2
      10 Robson de Souza 0 1 0 2 1 1 0 42 9 1
      14 José Maria Guti 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 22 2 2
      25 Jerzy Dudek 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      13 Jordi Codina 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      20 Gonzalo Higuaín 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 13 0 1
      2 Míchel Salgado 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      18 Javier Saviola 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      15 Royston Drenthe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 1

  • Summary

    • - Thank you for spending your Sunday with us - we'll be back with FA Cup replay action in midweek, so hopefully you will return for our LIVE text commentary on the key games and scoring on the lot.
    • 88' VAN NISTELROOY BANGS IN A SECOND!! Madrid hit Levante on the counter and Guti fed the former Manchester United man on the edge of the box - he struck it into the far bottom corner.
    • 86' Riga down the right to the by-line and cutting inside... he feeds a ball across but Pepe is there to cut it out. Levante still pressing when they can.
    • 80' Pepe with a poor piece of defensive play to allow Riga to snatch the ball and to his credit he backtracks to force a goal-kick - but that was very risky from the expensive defender.
    • 76' Van Nistelrooy sticks the ball into the bottom corner and Madrid will get out of jail again tonight, it seems. 1-0.
    • 75' PENALTY FOR MADRID!! Higuain's ball into the box was knocked away by Jose Serrano's elbow and Borbalan pointed to the spot.
    • 70' ROBINHO HITS THE POST!! A great tackle by Van Nistelrooy put him through and as Kujovic went to ground, he picked his spot... and rolled the ball against the near post! After that he was taken out by Alvaro in the penalty area but the ref had already blown. A let-off for the home team.
    • 54' MADRID ALMOST TAKE THE LEAD!! Baptista arrived and headed at goal, it was blocked by a man in a Levante shirt and he got a boot to it again - this time it struck the post before being hacked away!!
    • 51' Juanma centres for RIGA... the Dutchman's header is heading for the top corner, but Casillas plucks it out of the air.
    • 48' Riga on the ball in the box for the home team. He cannot turn to get a shot off but his strike partner Leon is teed up... he bangs a shot wide of the near post!! He caught that well.
    • 25' The following corner results in the ball pinging around the area and past the wrong side of the post again - the wrong side as far as the home side are concerned anyway!
    • 24' Levante on the charge, winning another corner. Riga puts it in and Alvaro almost scores with his head!
    • 23' BAPTISTA ALMOST SCORES - AND ALMOST SCORES A SECOND TIME!! He turned a corner kick towards the bottom corner where Luis Rubiales blocked on the line - then had another pop, the same defender stopping the ball with his chest before goalkeeper Vladan Kujovic gratefully grabbed it.
    • 15' Still Levante throw men into the danger area to threaten Casillas's goal - and again they almost take the lead, Pedro Leon so close to getting on the end of a cross.
    • 14' Laurent Courtois with a sensational turn in the box from a corner to leave his marker standing and Levante almost score through Juanma - Cannavaro diverting behind for another corner!!
    • 3' Levante swing in a free-kick that ALVARO MEETS WITH HIS HEAD... great stop by Iker Casillas!! He blocked the defender's attempt from six yards out.
    • - Welcome to eurosport.yahoo.com's LIVE text commentary as bottom club Levante welcome Liga leaders Real Madrid to their Ciudat de Valencia home.

Live Team Line-Up

  • Referee: David Fernández Borbalán

  • Levante U.D

    Manager: Giovanni De Biasi

    Starting line-up

    • V. Kujovic
    • I. Descarga
    • &. Maior
    • J. Serrano
    • L. Rubiales
    • G. Juanma Substitution Out (72′)
    • D. Tommasi Yellow Card
    • M. Berson
    • L. Courtois Substitution Out (87′)
    • S. Pedro León Substitution Out (69′)
    • M. Riga

    Subs

    • 7. D. Ettien Substitution In87′
    • 3. D. Castedo
    • 16. M. Lozano
    • 26. F. Saúl Substitution In72′
    • T. Tejera
    • I. Iborra Substitution In69′
    • A. Armando

    Injured

    • 20. C. Riganò
    • 6. M. Javi Fuego

    Suspended

    None

  • Real Madrid

    Manager: Bernd Schuster

    Starting line-up

    • I. Casillas
    • M. Torres
    • K. Laveran "Pepe"
    • F. Cannavaro
    • .. Marcelo
    • F. Gago
    • J. Baptista Substitution Out (56′)
    • W. Sneijder Substitution Out (71′)
    • G. Raúl
    • R. Robinho Substitution Out (84′)
    • R. Van Nistelrooy Goal

    Subs

    • 2. M. Salgado
    • 14. J. Guti Substitution In56′
    • 25. J. Dudek
    • 18. J. Saviola
    • 13. J. Codina
    • 20. G. Higuaín Substitution In71′
    • 15. R. Drenthe Substitution In84′

    Injured

    • 21. C. Metzelder
    • 16. G. Heinze
    • 11. A. Robben
    • 9. R. Soldado
    • 24. J. Balboa

    Suspended

    • 4. S. Ramos