MADRID — Real Madrid stumbled to a second straight draw at its Santiago Bernabeu Stadium after being held 1-1 by Levante in the Spanish league Saturday.

Madrid lost striker Karim Benzema to a muscle-injury in his right leg four days before its Champions League title defense starts against Cypriot team Apoel.

Coach Zinedine Zidane will be without Marcelo for the next league match at Real Sociedad after the defender got a direct red card for kicking Jefferson Lerma in the head after they tumbled to the turf in the 89th.

With Cristiano Ronaldo serving the third of a four-match suspension — for pushing a referee — Zidane gave starts to newcomer Theo Hernandez and midfielder Marcos Llorente.

Newly promoted Levante caught Madrid with its guard down in the 12th minute on a routine throw-in executed by Ivan Lopez, which concluded in a goal by another teammate also named Ivan Lopez.

One Lopez directed the throw-in to the other Lopez, who slipped behind Dani Carvajal near the goal, controlled the ball and poked it past goalkeeper Kiko Casilla.

Gareth Bale replaced Benzema in the 26th when Madrid's striker grabbed his right leg and asked to be substituted. Zidane said the injury was a muscle pull, adding that he hoped Benzema wouldn't be out long.

Lucas Vazquez got the equalizer 10 minutes later, when he tapped in the rebound after Levante goalkeeper Raul Fernandez saved Sergio Ramos' header.

Bale was criticized by the home crowd after its 2-2 draw with Valencia last round and the Wales winger squandered four opportunities to put the host ahead in this game. Bale sent three headers wide and failed to beat Fernandez one-on-one.

Toni Kroos almost grabbed the win for 10-man Madrid when he hit the post in stoppage time.

Madrid, the defending Liga champion, has only one victory in the first three rounds. It started the season by beating Manchester United in the European Super Cup and Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup.

Dortmund held by 10-man Freiburg

Borussia Dortmund dropped its first Bundesliga points of the season Saturday in a feisty 0-0 draw with a gallant Freiburg who played with 10 men for an hour after a red card awarded with the help of the video assistant.

Dortmund looked set to chalk up its 13th successive win over Freiburg after the Black Forest team had attacking midfielder Yoric Ravet sent off 29 minutes into his debut for a tackle from behind on Marcel Schmelzer, who had to go off injured.

Referee Benjamin Cortus initially gave Ravet a yellow card but changed it to a red after consulting video assistant referee Guenter Perl, infuriating the Schwarzwald stadium crowd.

Until the red card, Freiburg had looked slightly more dangerous and striker Tim Kleindienst missed the best chance of the game when he was put clean through but shot straight at Roman Buerki.

Dortmund, which has still not conceded a goal this season, has seven points from three games, alongside Hanover 96 who drew 1-1 away to VfL Wolfsburg.

Daniel Didavi gave Wolfsburg the lead early in the second half but Martin Harnik levelled for Hanover.

Alfred Finnbogason scored a hat trick, including a penalty, to give Augsburg a 3-0 win over Cologne who slumped to their third straight defeat.

He became the third Icelandic player to score a Bundesliga hat trick after Atli Edvaldsson and Eyjolfur Sverrisson.

Kevin-Prince Boateng goal gave Eintracht Frankfurt a 1-0 win at Borussia Moenchengladbach although the former Ghana international went off injured early in the second half.

Mainz 05 beat Leverkusen 3-1 to pick up their first win of the season and also their first under new coach Sandro Schwarz. — Agencies