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The title race in Spain was blown wide open, with Real Madrid falling to a shock 1-0 defeat away to Levante at the Estadi Ciutat de Valencia.
The visitors came into the fixture slightly behind Barcelona - who had earlier defeated Eibar convincingly - and having dropped points last time out in a 2-2 draw with Celta Vigo, they would have been looking to get back to winning ways against a Levante that were in the lower reaches of the table.
However, the hosts had different ideas and a 79th-minute strike by Jose Morales condemned Los Blancos to their first defeat in the league since their 1-0 reversal to Real Mallorca in the middle of October.
The defeat ended Real Marid's 14-game unbeaten run in LaLiga and now sees them playing catchup to Barcelona ahead of a testing week that would see them host English side Manchester City before taking on the might of the Blaugrana next weekend.
This was a shock loss, to say the least, and Zinedine Zidane would be scratching his head as to how his side failed to put their opponents to the sword and here, we shall be highlighting three reasons why Real Madrid fell to defeat against Levante.
#3 They failed to make the most of their superiority
Real Madrid are a much superior side to Levante, with the difference in quality between the two sides evident in the course of the game.
They controlled 63% of the possession, fashioned 19 shots, with seven of those on target compared to the eight and two on target by their hosts, while their 587 passes was significantly more than the 354 managed by Levante.
The capital side had their first real opportunity as early as the 11th minute when Benzema had only the goalkeeper to beat but shot straight at Aitor Fernandez and this was to be the story of their night, with numerous presentable opportunities falling to players including Eden Hazard and Luka Modric, all of whom fluffed their lines.
The Belgian international was particularly underwhelming and lacked his usual killer instinct and excellent control before he was subbed off in the 67th minute with what appeared to be a calf injury.
Real Madrid should have put living daylight between them and Levante by half-time (with their total of 12 shots the most they have managed in the first half of any game this season) but they were guilty of profligacy in front of goal and they paid the price for failing to take their chances.
#2 Resolute defending by Levante
Real Madrid's pedigree means that only a handful of clubs have the wherewithal to go toe-to-toe with them, with most of the lower clubs accepting their inferiority and sitting back to absorb the pressure and attack on the counter.
This was the tactic deployed by Paco Lopez, and his gameplan was evident from the blast of the whistle, with the 52-year-old instructing his wards to defend in a low block, remaining deep in their half and inviting the pressure from Los Blancos.
In what was a common theme throughout the game, Levante had at least eight players behind the ball at every point in time and this created a classic scenario of attack vs defence.
More often than not, clubs are usually undone when deploying this tactic, with a minor error or getting caught out of position playing into the hands of the quality attackers of superior clubs.
However, on the night, the Levante rearguard brought their A-game on, with the centre-back pairing of Bruno Fernandez and Sergio Postigo particularly impressive and formed an almost impenetrable wall in front of their goalkeeper.
Between them, the pair made 20 clearances (10 each), while Bruno also made three tackles (a figure only bettered by the five managed by defensive midfielder Nikola Vukcevic).
Goalkeeper Aitor Fernandez was also in inspired form and was on hand to thwart any advances made past his defensive line, making a total of seven saves in the match.
Although Levante profited from some poor finishing by the Real Madrid forward, credit must be given to them for putting up a defensive masterclass.
#1 Wonder strike from Jose Morales
Real Madrid spent most of the game camped in the half of Levante and their utter dominance of the fixture meant that their defence was rarely troubled.
With their defensive highline pushing for a late winner, they were caught out by a hopeful long ball by Vukcevic which saw Morales give chase before unleashing a powerful left-footed shot into the top corner from an acute angle.
As much a beautiful strike that it was, Thibaut Courtois was also slightly at fault, with the Belgian international perhaps having lost concentration from doing nothing for most of the game.
The 27-year-old misjudged the flight of the ball and elected to withdraw his hands at his near post when he would have been better served by attempting the save and this slight error in judgement was enough to see his goal breached.
Given Real Madrid's dominance, the only way for Levante to have gotten something was either through a piece of individual magic or an error and a combination of both ensured that they ended the weekend two points behind Barcelona.
