4 reasons why Real Madrid lost to Levante at the Bernabeu

#1 Julen Lopetegui’s curious team selections

Julen Lopetegui made some poor decisions

Real Madrid’s poor run of form always meant that changes would be made to the team as the manager sought to reverse the ugly trend of struggling in front of goal.

A major culprit for Real’s lack of goals has been Karim Benzema, as the club’s number 9 has failed to step up to the plate of leading the team’s attack since the departure of Ronaldo despite starting the season in impressive form.

The 31-year-old is now eight matches without a goal, and Lopetegui took the bold decision to drop him from the starting lineup alongside former most expensive player Gareth Bale, instead, starting a front trio of Lucas Vasquez, Marco Asensio and Mariano.

He also made the curious decision to start Isco despite the midfielder only just returning from an injury, and it was really not surprising that he failed to stamp his authority on the match.

Real Madrid’s play was very disjointed particularly in the first half, and when Julen turned to his bench to make changes, the damage had been done and Real stumbled to their third league defeat in just eight matches.

Coaches have a huge role to play in deciding the outcome of matches not just from their in game tactical moves, but also from the way they set up their team to start up with their starting teams, and in both regards, Lopetegui failed in the match against Levante.