Watery Real To Leak Again Versus Levante

Real Madrid hope to put a serious dip in performances behind them and get back to winning ways against Levante on Sunday in front of an increasingly disgruntled crowd in the Spanish capital.

Form
Following their 4-3 defeat at home to Schalke in the Champions League knockout stages in midweek it’s now three games without a win for Real, a relative drought for the European Champions who won a club record 22 games on the spin earlier this season. Despite the loss Carlo Ancelotti’s side still progressed to the quarter-finals with a 5-4 aggregate win over the Germans as they aim to retain their European crown. That was hard to tell gauging by their fans reaction at the Bernabeu as they made their displeasure clear following a run of results which has also seen Los Merengues overtaken in La Liga by Barcelona following last weekend’s 1-0 loss to Athletic Bilbao ahead of next weekend’s Clasico.

One player particularly unimpressed with the crowd’s reaction on Tuesday night was Cristiano Ronaldo, whose brace took him to five goals in five and break 40 goals for the season although Lionel Messi has now joined him at the top of the Spanish goalscoring charts with 30.

Levante have won three of their last five outings in the Primera division – half of their total wins in the league this season – to move them just outside the relegation places. They now lie a point above Almeria and only two adrift of Eibar in 14th after claiming an invaluable 2-1 in last weekend against the latter when they came from a goal down to take all three points. Lucas Alcaraz’s side have the joint worst away record in La Liga this season along with Cordoba however and have the worst goal difference in the division to boot.

David Barral leads the way in goals for Levante with six league goals and eight in total, including the equalizer in last time out against Eibar.

Team News
The biggest positive for Real to take form their midweek loss was undoubtedly the return of Luka Modric from injury as a second half substitute and the Croatian international could return to the starting XI here. James Rodriguez remains out though while Sergio Ramos is unlikely to return for another fortnight.

Levante’s have a doubt over midfielder Andreas Ivanschitz, Mohammed Sissoko is expected to miss out while namesakes Pedro and Ivan Lopez are also sidelined.

Head to Head
Real won 5-0 in the first meeting between the sides this season during the height of their record-breaking winning streak last October, with Ronaldo scoring twice, bringing his tally to nine in his last six appearances against these opponents, all of which have been won by Real. The last time the Ballon D’Or holder failed to score against Levante was when the hosts claimed a 1-0 win over Los Merengues in September 2011, while their last win at the Bernabeu came in 2007.

Recommended Bets
The 1/14 on a home win speaks for itself, and even with their current problems it’s hard to make any argument for an away win at 28/1 so match betting holds no interest here whatsoever. With Real out to make an impression Levante could be made to feel the backlash although with the hosts so shaky at the back 13/10 looks a fantastic price for both teams to score, and 13/8 on both scoring in a home win looks a worth backing too.