An under-strength Barcelona made their dominance count against Levante in La Liga on Sunday as they eventually eased to a 4-1 win at Camp Nou.
With the midweek round of fixtures in mind, ‘B’ graduates Munir El Haddadi and Sandro Ramirez were promoted to the first team in place of Andres Iniesta and Luis Suarez.
However, there was a return at right-back for Dani Alves, who replaced Sergi Roberto after recovering from a groin injury, picked up at Athletic Bilbao on the opening day of the season.
Other changes from the 1-1 draw with Roma in the Champions League saw Adriano and Marc Bartra named in defence, with Jordi Alba and the suspended Gerard Pique dropping out.
Munir seemed to slot into top of Barca’s diamond midfield seamlessly as he joined in on Lionel Messi and Neymar’s combinations, although he failed to take advantage of an empty net after he met the Brazilian’s low cross at the far post with his sliding leg, before working his way into the box and only finding opposing goalkeeper Ruben Garcia with his finish.
Messi, meanwhile, preferred to take a backseat in the first half, although a classic move from the Argentine saw him worm his way into the area, played a one-two with Sandro but could only toepoke the ball at Ruben.
Neither did it appear to be Neymar’s night as he dragged a low shot wide of the far post and had a cross-cum-shot attempt at the left-hand byline saved by Ruben.
Levante, on the other hand, fluffed a glorious opportunity of their own, Nabil Ghilas capitalising on Bartra’s reckless lunge in his own half but losing his composure at the vital moment as he sliced his finished way off-target.
However, Barca’s luck was about to change for the better. Bartra, who uncharacteristically bombed forward, met a deep cross in the area, took it down on his chest and slammed home a finish down the right-hand side of Ruben’s goal.
La Blaugrana then doubled their lead, when Neymar – at the far post – sent a low shot through the shot-stopper’s legs from close range after he was picked out by Alves, who showed great willingness to take his man on, reach the byline and deliver the cross.
Both goals were followed by heartwarming tributes to Rafinha, who will miss the rest of the season with an ACL tear, and the side did their fallen teammate even prouder when they moved three up from the penalty spot, Messi sending Ruben the wrong way with a driven attempt into the roof of the net.
Levante, against the run of play, pulled one back through substitute Victor Casadesus, who was at the right place at the right time to profit from Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s misjudgement of a cross, and were spared further when Messi blazed a second spot-kick over the bar.
Nonetheless, the Argentine did grab his second at the death in trademark fashion as he collected Neymar’s pass in the final third and promptly surged towards the Levante box, before rifling a low strike into the bottom-right corner of Ruben’s net.
Barcelona 4-1 Levante
Bartra 50, Neymar 56, Messi 61, 90 (B) Victor 66 (L)
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Alves, Bartra, Mascherano, Adriano; Busquets (Gumbau 82), Rakitic, Munir; Messi, Sandro, Neymar
Levante: Ruben; Ivan, Trujillo, Feddal, Juanfran, Tono; Camarasa (Garcia 80), Lerma, Verza; Ghilas (Victor 63), Roger (Deyverson 68)
Referee: Fernandez Borbalan
