Barcelona, Spain, Sept 19: Levante stunned 10-man Real Madrid 1-0 on Sunday, with Arouna Kone's second-half goal giving the Spanish powerhouse its first loss of the league season.
While Barcelona routed Osasuna 8-0 for its biggest home win under coach Pep Guardiola on Saturday, a lackluster Madrid was held scoreless for the third consecutive visit to Ciutat de Valencia stadium.
Madrid played a man down from the 40th after Sami Khedira received his second yellow card.
Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench at halftime to try and spark Madrid, but Kone converted Levante's numerical advantage into the 68th-minute winner.
The loss left Madrid one point behind Barcelona and two points behind league leaders Valencia and Real Betis.
Madrid coach Jose Mourinho had no doubts who was responsible for the loss.
“The fault, in my opinion, lies with one of my players who knew about this type of situation and yet still fell into the trap,” the Portuguese coach said. “In the (training) sessions we showed images just like those of the sending off of Khedira, and I thought that this was not going to happen and that nobody would be sent off.
“I think players have to be intelligent enough to avoid situations like this.”
But in a meeting between the teams with the smallest and largest budgets in Spain, Levante was proud to have succeeded in hanging firm with Madrid in the first half before taking advantage of its extra man later.
“We are a humble team and have to fight just to get by,” said Levante's veteran defender Sergio Ballesteros. “They are the team with the most economic power in La Liga and the big stars, and they can't make excuses for losing.”
Earlier, Radamel Falcao got a hat trick to lead Atletico Madrid to a 4-0 win over Racing Santander, and Luis Garcia scored two goals—including the injury-time winner—to lift Zaragoza to a 2-1 win over his former club Espanyol.
Kaka was given a rare start in place of Ronaldo, who hurt his ankle during Wednesday's 1-0 win at Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League.
Despite looking sluggish, Madrid still had chances to go ahead early.
Levante goalkeeper Gustavo Munua almost gifted Madrid a goal in the 23rd when he collided with a teammate and spilled the ball to Fabio Coentrao. The Portuguese midfielder laid off for Karim Benzema, but Ballesteros blocked his shot on the goalline.
Khedira was sent off after receiving his second yellow card for pushing over Ballesteros during a spat that broke out between the two teams over a foul disputed by Angel Di Maria.
“Clearly, when you have to play with a man less it is more difficult to circulate the ball,” Madrid defender Sergio Ramos said. “But the expulsion is no excuse.”
Mourinho sent on Ronaldo for Benzema at the beginning of the second half and shortly after added more firepower with Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain substituting Coentrao.
But it was Levante that broke through when Kone sent his right-footed blast over Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas after Javi Venta set up the former Sevilla striker in the area.
Madrid tried to press for the late equalizer but Levante's defense had little trouble resisting until the final whistle for its first league home win in seven tries against the powerhouse.
“On grounds like this the league is also won and lost,” Ramos said. “We have to continue working and look ahead.”
Falcao scored Atletico's first goal of the season with a blast from just inside the area in the 23rd at Vicente Calderon stadium.
The Colombia striker then made it 2-0 from the penalty spot in the 36th, and fellow new signing Arda Turan assisted Falcao and substitute Adrian Lopez in the second half to guarantee Atletico its first victory of the Spanish league season.
At La Romareda stadium, Garcia, who joined Zaragoza earlier this month after six years with the Barcelona-based Espanyol, headed in his new club's first goal of the season in the 29th.
Defender Javi Lopez equalized for the visitors in the 71st, and Espanyol looked set to earn an away draw when goalkeeper Cristian Alvarez blocked Garcia's penalty kick in the 87th.
But the 30-year-old Garcia made up for his miss when he appeared in the area to volley in a loose ball three minutes into injury time to earn Zaragoza's first win of the season.
Elsewhere, Rayo Vallecano edged Getafe 1-0 for its first victory in Spain's top flight after eight seasons in the lower division, and the promoted Betis remained perfect after winning 3-2 at the winless Athletic Bilbao.
On Saturday, Lionel Messi scored a hat trick to lead Barcelona's win over Osasuna.
Also, it was: Valencia 1, Sporting Gijon 0; Granada 1, Villarreal 0; Malaga 1, Mallorca 0; and Sevilla 1, Real Sociedad 0. AP
