MADRID, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Julen Lopetegui's future as Real Madrid coach hangs by a threat after his side suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Levante to continue their dreadful recent run of results.
The defeat comes on the back of 1-0 defeats to Alaves and CSKA Moscow, a 0-0 draw at home to Atletico Madrid and a 3-0 loss away to Sevilla and Lopetegui's side have not won a game since beating Espanyol 1-0 on September 22nd.
The game also saw Real Madrid set a new record of 481 minutes (over seven and a half hours) without a goal, and although Marcelo put an end to that drought in the 72nd minute of the game, it was not enough to save Lopetegui from another painful defeat.
The former Spain coach decided to start with Mariano Diaz, Lucas Vazquez and Isco in his side, while leaving Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema on the subs' bench and seeing how his side were 2-0 down after just 13 minutes thanks to an opening goal from Jose Luis Morales and a 13th minute penalty from Roger Marti, after the VAR adjudged that Rafael Varene had handled just inside the Madrid area.
Levante goalkeeper Oier Oyarzabal also produced a string of important saves, as his side defended bravely to hold on for the club's second ever win in the Bernabeu.
Lopetegui tried to rotate his side in search of an equalizing goal with Bale replacing right back Alvaro Odriozola at halftime and Dani Ceballos and Benzema coming on after the break.
Marcelo's goal at least ended the drought and gave them hope of a fightback, but it was all too frantic and Levante almost grabbed a third on the break in injury time, before the final whistle which was greeted with jeers and whistles from the stand.
Real Madrid take on Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League on Tuesday, before travelling to visit Barcelona on October 28th, but whether Lopetegui will be in charge for those games is unknown.
