Real Madrid It put a stop to the crisis process that deepened with the elimination of the Copa del Rey against Albacete and that developed after the departure of Xabi Alonso from the substitutes’ bench. With goals from Kylian Mbappé criminal and Raul Asenciohe Merengue beat Levante 2-0 for the 20th date of the Liga with some productive 45 minutes from the Argentine Franco Mastantuono.
The former River Plate started the duel on the substitute bench, but the brand new coach Álvaro Arbeloa decided to throw him onto the field from the locker room at halftime with a duel that at that time still remained tied without goals in a Santiago Bernabéu Stadium who made his disagreement with the squad felt after what happened in recent weeks.
The 18-year-old footballer entered together with the Turk Arda Guler in replacement of Gonzalo Garcia y Eduardo Camavinga. Lying on the right, Mastantuono had two important interventions in the game.
After the penalty Mbappé which allowed the Frenchman himself to open the scoring from twelve steps, a brilliant header from Asencio came after a corner from Güler to set what would be the final figures. However, Mastan created two chances that could have easily meant the third of the Merengue.
At 66 minutes, just two minutes after the second shout, he was received on the right wing by Federico Valverde, raised his head and He took a perfect ball behind the Levante defense: Mbappé won the spacehe controlled and took a right hand that ended up hitting the body of goalkeeper Mathew Ryan, who saved well.
Four minutes later, at 70Mbappé received outside the area and saw the Argentine well positioned a few meters behind the crescent of the area. Mastantuono, despite the distance, controlled and opened his foot with a left foot shot that hit the crossbar of the rival goal..
After the defeat in the final of the Spanish Super Cup against Barcelona and the elimination against Albacete in the Copa del Rey, Real Madrid returned to the path of victory in a Spanish League that has it as the escort of the leader Barcelona. He Merengue counts 48 points and the Blaugrana 49although the Catalans will clash this Sunday against Real Sociedad for this 20th matchday.
The next step for those now commanded by Arbeloa will be a trial by fire because they will face the 7th date of the Champions League against him Monaco: you will receive them in the Bernabeu he next Tuesday, January 20 from 5:00 p.m. in Argentina. Then, the Merengue the initial phase against Benfica in Portugal.
It must be taken into account that Real is among the eight teams that would currently advance directly to the round of 16, but They occupy 7th place with 12 points and they run the risk of ending up falling into the playoff zone that those ranked from 9th to 24th place will have to play.
On the Mastantuono side, who had just celebrated his second goal for the club in the 3-2 defeat against Albacete, he added his 19th appearance dressed in white since he signed a contract in mid-2025. The Argentine was holder on ten occasionsbut He never played 90 minutes. and has even reappeared after a pubalgia that was diagnosed at the beginning of November.
