Barcelona survive three Levante penalties thanks to Luuk de Jong in extremis

Levante 2-3 Barcelona

Levante are struggling in the relegation zone and until the last half an hour of the match provided the majority of the flair against Barcelona – but it wasn’t enough.

The match settled into a rhythm in the first half as Barcelona struggled to move forwards and were exposed without the ball. Jose Luis Morales was the commander in-chief of the trouble being caused and nearly opened the scoring with a brilliant run. Only the heroic efforts of Ronald Araujo, Eric Garcia and Marc-Andre ter Stegen stopped Levante from doing so in the first half.

The second was a similar story during its opening act. Dani Alves obstructed Son as he ran into the box and the resulting penalty did allow Morales to open the scoring this time. It could have been two, yet ter Stegen read Roger Marti’s mind and stopped a second Levante penalty.

Shortly afterwards, Gavi and Pedri entered the fray and with it the match shifted into a different phase. With increased ability to progress the ball into the final third, it took just three minutes for Ousmane Dembele to bend a cross into the path of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with his left foot. Four minutes after that, the two substitutes combined brilliantly to give Barcelona the lead; Gavi the creator, Pedri the finisher for the second week in a row.

An open and entertaining back-and-forth ensued, without too many clear-cut chances until Clement Lenglet intervened. Brought on just a minute prior to the incident, Lenglet clipped Dani Gomez in the box and handed the ball to Gonzalo Melero this time to level the match at 2-2.

A frantic final ten minutes saw Barcelona throw everything the kitchen sink at Levante. Fortunately for Xavi Hernandez, that included Luuk de Jong. The Dutchman also made an impact within 8 minutes of coming on, getting on the end of Jordi Alba’s cross to beat Dani Cardenas at the near post. The Barcelona bench was wild with delight and Levante’s sunk almost audibly.

The Catalans are back into second place, once again with the Dutch influence to thank for that – just not quite how many imagined that sentence to translate to reality. Levante remain seven points removed from safety and face the mammoth task of recovering from such a blow after a very good performance.

Tags Barcelona La Liga Levante
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