Levante 1 Real Madrid 3: Ronaldo helps bury memory of derby loss

Real Madrid were forced to hold on to earn a 3-1 victory over bottom-of-the-table Levante in this evening’s La Liga showdown at the Estadio Ciutat de Valencia.

Three of the game’s four goals arrived prior to the interval in a lively contest, with substitute Isco finally sealing the points in added time to see the visitors return to winning ways in the Spanish top flight.

Victory eases the pressure on Zinedine Zidane‘s men, who remain nine points off leaders Barcelona despite this reprieve against the division’s seemingly doomed basement boys.

The first chance of an entertaining first half fell the way of Giuseppe Rossi, who could not quite force the ball past ex-Levante stopper Keylor Navas.

It took Madrid until the 20-minute mark until they could muster their first real attempt of the evening, asLucas Vazquez this time made the most of some space down the right to pick out Cristiano Ronaldo at the front post.

Despite the angle being well against him, the Portuguese – who headed into this game on the back of 13 goals in his last 12 appearances – still managed to test Diego Marino‘s reflexes down low.

Ronaldo was again the man involved when firing away a loose ball eight yards out soon after, which Marino was again equal to in a evenly-matched opening half an hour to the match.

That all appeared to change when Ronaldo finally got the better of Marino, though, after tucking away from the spot when Vazquez was felled by Lucas Orban.

Just four minutes later, and from their next attacking move, Los Blancos had a second through the work of teenager Borja Mayoral on his first start for the club.

A shot from range came back off the post before hitting an unfortunate Marino on the back and crossing the line, giving Madrid what looked like being an unassailable two-goal lead against the division’s lowest scorers.

The flow of the game changed completely a little over a minute later, however, thanks to a fine finish fromDeyverson who was played in from close range by Rossi.

That well-taken effort lifted home supporters, but the early stages of the second period were largely dominated by a Madrid side who have now won on each of their nine visits to this venue.

James Rodriguez came close when curling an effort just inches wide of the target, before Nacho cut inside to force Marino into a more routine stop with his long-range drive.

Despite the chances drying up after a lively opening spell to the half, Ronaldo was picked out by a glorious James pass over the top of the defence and left through on goal, yet he could only pick out the post with his volley.

It was proving to be a frustrating night for the superstar forward, who also blasted wide from the edge of the box 18 minutes from time when given room to get away his shot.

Levante could sense a leveller as the game entered the final 10 minutes with the scoreline still tightly poised and, if not for a big Navas stop, Ruben Garcia’s strike would have earned them a big point in their fight for survival.

Garcia was close again from the resulting corner, which Orban flicked on to the back-post area only for his teammate to slide in slightly too late.

Les Granotes put their opponents under some real pressure, but after throwing bodies forward space opened up at the other end, allowing Ronaldo to tee up Isco to wrap up the points in stoppage time.