Levante stun Real Madrid

BARCELONA, Spain (AP):

Levante stunned 10-man Real Madrid 1-0 yesterday, with Arouna Kone's second-half goal giving the Spanish powerhouse their first loss of the league season.

While Barcelona routed Osasuna 8-0 for their biggest home win under coach Pep Guardiola on Saturday, a lacklustre Madrid were 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 half-time to try and spark Madrid, but Kone converted Levante's numerical advantage into the 68th-minute winner.

Lagging behind

The loss left Madrid one point behind Barcelona and two points behind league leaders Valencia.

"We knew it was going to be a complicated game," Madrid defender Sergio Ramos said. "Clearly, when you have to play with a man less it is more difficult to circulate the ball."

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.

In a meeting between the teams with the smallest and largest budgets in Spain, Levante succeeded in hanging firm with Madrid in the first half and taking advantage of their extra man later.

Rare start

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 Levante defender Sergio Ballesteros blocked his shot on the goal line.

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.

Madrid coach José 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 equaliser, but Levante's defence had little trouble resisting until the final whistle for their 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."