Real Madrid insist on giving life to Barcelona and on not winning La Liga

Real Madrid have lost the lead in the title race and they've lost the part of their game that brought them to that privileged position in the first place, their defensive solidity.

The first warning arrived with the Copa del Rey elimination against Real Sociedad, the second came against Celta Vigo and the final blow came against Levante, leaving Real Madrid in a bad way going into a week in which both the competitions they are still in are in play.

First, they have Manchester City in the Champions League and then it's Barcelona in LaLiga Santander.

The worst thing of all is that Zinedine Zidane's side showed a lack of resources going forward, with Vinicius the only player capable of dribbling past someone once Eden Hazard had departed injured.

But, whether it was Hazard or Vinicius on the pitch, the lack of a goal threat was the common denominator in Real Madrid's play.

There were chances, attacking moves, 19 shots, seven on target, but no killer instinct to beat Aitor Fernandez.

This is nothing new.

It's an illness that Los Blancos have had for the last year and a half.

The consequence of this all is that Real Madrid have conceded top spot and suffered a blow to their confidence right across the club, especially when they think about Hazard's new injury and the chance of losing him for the decisive part of the season.

Could this situation have been avoided? You'd think so because the trajectory of the team made you think about a change in tendency and because Barcelona were worse, but the reality is that Real Madrid, starting with Zidane and ending with Karim Benzema, are lacking goals.

Los Blancos dominated Levante, but, just as in recent matches, the order and play of the team disappears if an early goal doesn't come.

Crosses are the only argument, with Real Madrid attempting 35 against Paco Lopez's men, and the No.9 tasked with putting the ball in the back of the net simply wasn't in the box very often to convert these crosses.

This is nothing new, but Levante took advantage of this lack of conviction.

Now Manchester City and Barcelona are coming.

The latter are going through their own troubles and have changed their coach, but go into the Clasico two points in front - a situation that the Barcelona dressing room couldn't even have dreamt of a few weeks ago.

Zidane and his men have given life to a once-dying team who are now league leaders.