Barcelona’s visits to face Levante at the Estadi Ciutat de Valencia are usually dramatic and that was certainly the case on Sunday night, as the Blaugrana won 3-2 courtesy of a stoppage time Luuk de Jong header. On a night when the visitors conceded three penalties, they still managed to leave with three points.
There were no goals in the first half, but Levante‘s play had deserved one as they were the better side in the opening 45 minutes. The closest they came, though, was when Jose Luis Morales had a shot cleared off the line by Eric Garcia after a mazy run.
Shortly into the second half, Morales did put his side ahead and he did so from the spot, after Dani Alves had fouled Son.
That sent the home crowd wild with delight and they were even louder when Levante won another penalty moments later for an Eric Garcia handball. But, this time it was Roger Marti who took it and his attempt was saved by Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
That save sparked Barcelona into life and they went up the other end an equalised, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang heading in an Ousmane Dembele cross.
Levante were stunned and Pedri then conjured up a great finish to follow the one he produced last weekend, firing into the far corner to make it 2-1.
But, this game wasn’t over and Barcelona weren’t done giving away penalties. In the final 10 minutes, substitute Clement Lenglet gave away a spot kick for a clumsy challenge on Dani Gomez and Levante scored this one, thanks to their third different penalty taker of the night – Gonzalo Melero.
Neither team wanted to settle for a draw, so an end-to-end final few minutes were played out. There was enough time remaining for De Jong to become Barcelona‘s hero again, getting his head on a 92nd minute Jordi Alba cross and turning it in for the 3-2 victory.
Marca
