BARCELONA: In the space of just four days, Real Madrid lost a final to bitter rivals Barcelona, sacked coach Xabi Alonso and were knocked out of the Copa del Rey by a second division team, leaving them hurtling into a crisis.
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New coach Alvaro Arbeloa will lead the team into battle on Saturday at the Santiago Bernabeu against Levante in La Liga, knowing that anything other than a victory would be a brutal blow to their hopes of deposing Barcelona from the domestic throne.
His first match at the helm ended in humiliation, a 3-2 defeat by Albacete in the Copa del Rey last 16 on Wednesday, sapping morale from the squad and disrupting any positive momentum his appointment might have brought.
Arbeloa celebrates his 43rd birthday on Saturday and the ideal gift would be three points against the 19th-placed visitors to cut back Barca’s four point lead at the top of the table and offer Madrid a platform to build on.
