LIVE Real Madrid – Levante, the first match of the “whites” after the shameful elimination from the Cup
Article by Daniel Grigore – Published Saturday, January 17, 2026, 2:59 p.m. / Updated Saturday, January 17, 2026 3:02 p.m.
In these moments, real madrid face it on Levante in stage 20 of La Liga. The duel started at 15:01 is liveTEXT on GSP.ro and televised by PrimaSport 1 and DigiSport 1 respectively. The match is being played on the day that the coach of the “whites”, Alvaro Arbeloa, turns 43.
Schedule and results of the 20th round of La Liga
It is the first match of the Madrid team after the sting elimination from the King's Cup, 2-3 against Albaceteone of the last ranked in the second tier. Jefte Betancor, the striker who went through the Super League, eliminated Madrid with a “double”.
That was the first match under the command of interim Alvaro Arbeloa, who took over the management of the first team after the dismissal of Xabi Alonso.
No wrong steps are allowed today: with a win, the Madrid team would provisionally close to within 1 point of the leader FC Barcelona. The opposition looks “within reach”, with Levante second to last in La Liga, but in good recent form, unbeaten in the last 3 legs.
LIVE » Real Madrid – Levante 0-0
Real Madrid – Levante, starting teams:
REAL MADRID (4-4-2): Courtois – Valverde (capt.), Asencio, Huijsen, Carreras – Bellingham, Tchouameni, Camavinga, Vinicius – Gonzalo, Mbappe
reserves: F. Gonzalez, Mestre – Carvajal, Alaba, Guler, Ceballos, F. Garcia, Mastantuono, Cestero, D. Jimenez, Palacios, Leiva
Coach: Alvaro Arbeloa
LEVANTE (4-4-2): Ryan – Toljan, Dela, Matturro, Manu Sanchez – Vencedor, P. Martinez (capt.), K. Tunde, C. Alvarez – Eyong, I. Romero
reserves: P. Campos, Primo – Olasagasti, AJ Morales, Raghouber, Koyalipou, Arriaga, Losada, Espi, P. Cortes, Krug, N. Perez
Coach: Luis Castro
Real Madrid have several unavailable for this game: defenders Trent Alexander-Arnold, Eder Militao, Antonio Rudiger and Ferland Mendy are injured, Rodrygo is also injured, while Brahim Diaz is away for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Kylian Mbappe was uncertain: until today he had only played 15 minutes this year in the Spanish Super Cup final, 2-3 with Barcelona, recovering from a knee injury. It seemed unlikely that the striker would start today's match, but Arbeloa decided to start him.
Tensions with the public are announced
Lately, in the context of the results far below expectations, the public on “Bernabeu” turned against the stars paid tens of millions of euros.
Victim number 1 was Vinicius Junior, whistled copiously both in the 2-0 with Sevilla and in the 5-1 with Betis. After the first of these matches, Vinicius, disturbed by the audience's reactionchanged his profile picture on Instagram, replacing the one showing him as a Real Madrid player with one of him wearing a Brazil shirt.
The crowd is expected to be hostile again, especially as Real suffered a humiliating defeat in the Cup, missing out on another goal of the season.
Coach Alvaro Arbeloa is aware of this danger and tried to sweeten the audience:
It is essential for us that we return home in front of our fans. It's a huge motivation and we want to show it with a great performance. I have great respect for public opinion. I understand that the fans are hurting and disappointed with us, but I ask them to support their players.
COPE goes further and writes that representatives of the club have actually contacted Grada de Animacion, the group of supporters who occupy the lawn, to request them not to boo the players!
LIVE standings in La Liga:
