Barcelona defeated Levante 3-2 in La Liga on Saturday evening.
In the ninth minute, the hosts thought they had made it 1-0, but their goal was disallowed due to the goalscorer, Jose Luis Morales, being in an offside position. Although it was disallowed, the Levante players and manager would've taken positives from just breaking through the Barcelona defence, as it is not an easy thing to do, and could've given them a lot of confidence going forward in the match.
Shortly after having their goal chalked off, Levante had the ball in the back of the Barcelona net yet again, but this time it counted, and they took a 1-0 lead. Although Barcelona managed to dominate possession early in the match and were playing some slick football, they were caught out by Manuel Sanchez, who won the ball off Lamine Yamal, and the left-back bombed down the wing and put a cross to the feet of his wing-back counterpart, Jeremy Toljan, who set the ball back for Ivan Romero who produced some slick footwork and guided his finish past Joan Garcia from close range.
Although the hosts took the lead in the match, it did not dishearten Barcelona, and they kept on playing their game and attacking the Levante defence. Barcelona broke through the Levante defence, and the final chance fell to the feet of Torres, who smashed a shot off the bar.
Right at the end of the first half, Levante once again broke through on goal with another counter-attack, but Morales' shot was blocked by Alejandro Balde. Although in real time, there didn't look to be anything in it, after a VAR review, the referee, Alejandro Hernandez, awarded a penalty to Levante as Balde was judged to have handled the ball whilst blocking Morales' shot. The 38-year-old stepped up to take the penalty and slotted it calmly into the bottom corner to double his side's lead to 2-0.
The first half came to a close with Levante in a shock 2-0 lead over Barcelona.
Just minutes after the restart, Barcelona got a goal back and reduced their goal deficit to just one. The visitors were trying to walk the ball into the net for most of the match until this point, but this goal was an absolute screamer. The ball fell to the feet of Pedri from around 30 yards out, and the Spaniard fired it into the top corner, leaving Pablo Cunat no chance of saving it.
Just three minutes after starting their comeback, Barcelona completed it and had the match level at 2-2. The goal was scored by Torres, and although it was nowhere near as spectacular as Pedri's strike, this goal was one from the training ground and Hans-Dieter Flick would've been delighted with it. Yamal whipped a perfect corner into the box, and his ball found Torres, who just guided his volley past Cunat to make it 2-2.
In the 91st minute, Levante were sucker punched, as Barcelona made it 3-2 and turned the match on its head after being in such a bad position in the first half. If conceding in the 91st minute wasn't brutal enough, it came via an Unai Elgezabal own goal, which just looped over the Levante goalkeeper.
Elgezabal's own goal was the last action of the match, and Barcelona defeated Levante 3-2.
Levante 2-3 Barcelona - Match Statistics
Levante
18
8
5
0
9
3
Match Highlights
To follow soon...
Levante Player Ratings
Levante players celebrating after scoring against Barcelona
GK: Pablo Cunat - 7/10
Was tested well and often and managed to produce some good saves. There was nothing Cunat could really do about any of Barcelona's goals.
RWB: Jeremy Toljan - 7/10
Provided a good assist for Romero's opening goal, but outside of that, Toljan didn't really do much either offensively or defensively.
CB: Adrian De La Fuente - 7.5/10
A brick wall at the back at times. Although De La Fuente hardly had anything to do with the ball at his feet, he was kept busy with the defensive actions he had to produce, and he produced many clearances, interceptions and blocks.
CB: Unai Elgezabal - 5/10
Hardly had any time on the ball, but like his fellow Levante defenders, he produced several key blocks and clearances. Elgezabal was incredibly unfortunate to score an own goal, which gifted Barcelona the three points in the 91st minute.
CB: Jorge Cabello - 6.5/10
Made some important clearances and blocks like his fellow centre-backs, but hardly had a thing to do with the ball at his feet, and like Elgezabal, struggled with the pace and trickery of the Barcelona attackers, particularly Yamal.
LWB: Manuel Sanchez - 7.5/10
Played a huge role in Levante's opening goal, where he won the ball off of Yamal and bombed down the left flank. That was pretty much the last offensive moment Sanchez had, and the rest of his match was spent closely watching Yamal, which he did well more often than not.
CM: Oriol Rey - 6.5/10
Worked incredibly hard in the middle of the park, but wasn't asked to do much in possession.
CM: Pablo Martinez - 7.5/10
Not only did Martinez work very hard in the midfield, but he also got back many times to help out his defenders, and he produced some very important defensive actions.
RW: Roger Brugue - 7/10
Squandered a very good opportunity at goal in the 53rd minute, which he really should've scored. Brugue worked incredibly hard and did well, considering he was mainly feeding off scraps.
ST: Ivan Romero - 8/10
Not only did Romero take his early goal incredibly well, but he also worked very hard up front on his own and had phenomenal hold-up and link-up play. The Levante forward was key to bringing other attackers into play and was one of the most creative players on the pitch.
LW: Jose Luis Morales - 8/10
Got into some excellent positions in the Barcelona box several times and had a few good chances at goal. Despite having a goal disallowed, Morales wasn't disheartened and went on to put in a good performance, capping it off with a goal from the penalty spot.
SUB: Carlos Alvarez - N/A
Didn't do much after coming on.
SUB: Carlos Espi - N/A
Didn't do much after coming on.
SUB: Iker Losada - N/A
Didn't do much after coming on.
SUB: Diego Pampin - N/A
Didn't do much after coming on.
SUB: Victor Garcia - N/A
Didn't do much after coming on.
Barcelona Player Ratings
Marcus Rashford in action for Barcelona against Levante
GK: Joan Garcia - 8/10
Produced some incredibly important and good saves and was good with the ball at his feet.
RB: Eric Garcia - 7.5/10
Very solid defensively and also contributed going forward, especially with his dangerous crosses into the box.
CB: Ronald Araujo - 7.5/10
Very good with the ball at his feet and produced a few important recoveries after Levante broke on the counter-attack.
CB: Pau Cubarsi - 7/10
Good in possession of the ball, but did get caught out at the back quite a few times when Levante counter-attacked.
LB: Alejandro Balde - 7/10
Was arguably harshly done by to have been penalised for handling the ball in the box, subsequently giving Levante a penalty. Outside of giving away the penalty, Balde put in a good all-around performance and was solid in possession, as well as good offensively and defensively down the left flank.
CM: Marc Casado - 7/10
Tidy on the ball and worked hard, but was substituted at half-time.
CM: Pedri - 8.5/10 (Man of the Match)
Absolutely controlled the midfield and the tempo of the match at times. As well as being a maestro in midfield, Pedri also scored an absolute screamer to start Barcelona's comeback.
AM: Raphinha - 7.5/10
Took his time to get into the match, but when he did, he was on it. The Brazilian caused the Levante defence plenty of problems and was one of the key reasons behind Barcelona's comeback.
RW: Lamine Yamal - 8/10
Provided an excellent assist for Torres' equaliser, and was relentless with his pace and dribbling skill, constantly attacking the Levante defenders.
ST: Ferran Torres - 8/10
Struggled to get into the match at times, but still managed to score a very good volleyed goal.
LW: Marcus Rashford - 5.5/10
Saw plenty of the ball down the left flank and put a few good crosses into the box. Other than his few crosses, the Englishman didn't really do anything, and he almost cost his side a goal with a very poor pass backwards.
SUB: Dani Olmo - 7/10
Gave Barcelona a much bigger attacking threat after he entered the pitch. Olmo created some good chances for his teammates and got himself into some good attacking areas, also.
SUB: Gavi - 6.5/10
Saw plenty of the ball and he was good and tidy with it, but didn't really produce anything of any note.
SUB: Andreas Christensen - N/A
Didn't do much after coming on.
SUB: Robert Lewandowski - N/A
Didn't do much after coming on.
SUB: Jules Kounde - N/A
Didn't do much after coming on.