Vinicius brace helps Real rally for Levante draw

Soccer

Real Madrid came from behind with a brace from Vinicius Jr. in a thrilling draw with upstart Levante in LaLiga on Sunday night.

The visitors took an early lead through Gareth Bale, who lashed a first-time shot into the back of the net after Karim Benzema played the ball back to him at the top of the area following a Madrid counter-attack.

La Liga on ESPN+: Stream LIVE games and replays (U.S. only)

Real continued to have the better of proceedings in the first half and Bale nearly doubled the lead for Carlo Ancelotti’s side from a long-range free kick that sailed just wide of the goal before the break.

A nice bit of interplay from Levante saw the home side draw level seconds after the restart with Roger Marti beating Madrid keeper Thibaut Courtois from 10 yards out.

Levante doubled their lead soon after when Jose Campana’s half volley from a nice cross on the right beat Courtois for a 2-1 lead.

Substitute Vinicius Jr. put Real back on level terms after 70 minutes, outracing the Levante defence to a Casemiro through ball and calmly slotting past Levante keeper Aitor Fernandez to set up a tense finish to the match.

However, Levante retook the lead soon after when Rober netted their third from a set piece with the hosts seeing a potential fourth goal glance off the far post without finding the back of the net.

The see-saw battle continued when Vinicius netted from a neat chip to make it 3-3 right before Aitor was shown straight red for a rash challenge on an onrushing Vinicius, who would have scored if not for the keeper’s intervention.

Articles You May Like

Kim opens with 4-shot lead at LPGA opener
Rwanda and South Africa race to bring F1 back to Africa
“Wasn’t One Person Decision…”: Team India Doors Closed Under Coach Rahul Dravid, Star Now Makes Big Claim
Sources: Thomas rejoins Jazz’s G League affiliate
3rd T20I: Varun Chakravarthy’s Heroics In Vain As India Slump To 26-Run Loss vs England

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *