Levante made it through to the Europa League group stages in an uneventful win over Motherwell at the Ciutat de Valencia.
Theofanis Gekas was lively upfront for Levante during the early exchanges, but Motherwell’s offside trap outfoxed the Greek international on several occasions.
The Scottish outfit’s Captain Keith Lasley carried his team at times, but at the half hour mark it was the 32-year-old that missed the target.
Juanlu Gomez wasted effort with five minutes to go until half-time was the chance of the game for the Granotes, as it remained scoreless at the interval.
Motherwell Coach Stuart McCall was forced to attack from the onset, but a tame first half resulted in his side registering only two shots on target.
Gekas’ early attempt after the interval produced an excellent save from Darren Randolph, and was also Levante’s first shot on target in the entire game.
The Scottish goalkeeper was called into action only minutes later from Nabil El Zhar, successfully keeping the match scoreless with an hour played.
The 25-year-old was helpless between the sticks 10 minutes later, however. Gomez teed Gekas up to score his first goal for the Spanish outfit and open the scoring on the night.
Motherwell could not muster a comeback and were eventually defeated 3-0 on aggregate after a drab fixture, with Levante successfully making it through to the group stages of the Europa League.
Levante 1-0 Motherwell (3-0 on aggregate)
Scorers: Gekas 72 (L)
Levante: Navas; Juanfran, Ballesteros (Rodas 76), Navarro, Lopez; El Zhar, Iborra (Pallardo 80), Diop, Barkero (Michel 61), Gomez; Gekas
Motherwell: Randolph; Kerr, Cummins, Page, Hammell (Francis-Angol 74); Ojamaa (McHugh 67), Lasley, Hetherington, Carswell (Humphrey 68), Murphy; Higdon
Ref: Turpin (FRA)
