Barcelona beat Levante 4-2 at the Ciutat de València on Sunday to restore their three-point lead at the top of La Liga, a day after Real Madrid's win over Rayo had drawn Madrid level. Both sides have now played five. Barcelona have won all five, with 21 goals scored and four conceded.
The scoreline suggests control. The chance count does not. Levante had a quarter of the ball and still out-shot the champions 13 to 12, created five big chances to Barcelona's three, and ended the first half with six attempts to three. Barcelona scored four times from six efforts on target. Levante missed all three of the big chances that would have changed the afternoon, and that is the honest reading of what decided it.
Barcelona's first shot on target went in. Xavi Espart collected the ball on the edge of the box in the fifth minute and finished low into the corner with a slight deflection, his first senior goal at nineteen. On 19, Fermín López's through-ball found Raphinha, who cut it back for Lamine Yamal to finish from close range. Three minutes into the second half Aïssa Mandi brought Yamal down in the area, and Yamal sent Mathew Ryan the wrong way from the spot for his third La Liga brace in five games this season.
At 3-0 the game should have been over. It was not, because Levante had been the more dangerous side for long stretches. Andreas Christensen, on at half-time for a limping and booked Gerard Martín, cleared off the line on the hour after Pau Cubarsí had partially blocked a shot. Then, on 79, Espart's pass back towards Christensen went straight to substitute Iván Romero, who rounded Joan García and rolled the ball into an empty net. Nine minutes later Marc Bernal lost possession in his own half, García saved Roger Brugué's first shot, and the Levante captain scored the rebound.
The equaliser did not come. Karim Adeyemi, on for Anthony Gordon since the 67th minute, ran from the halfway line in the third minute of stoppage time, went past Mandi with a backheel and finished low past Ryan. The home crowd chanted Levante's name as he celebrated.
Highlights via FC Barcelona's official channel.
Flick did not dress it up. "It was not our best game," he said afterwards. "We had a great start, but then in the second half we struggled a little bit. We have to be calmer at 3-0."
He took the first goal on himself. "It was my fault because we wanted to make a change, but I said to wait until the next break, and then it happens." According to Diario SPORT, the change was for Espart, who was cramping. Flick also said the pitch was dry and that Levante had pressed his side well, and offered one line that will follow this team through the autumn: "If you do not give 100%, things like this happen."
Jon Ander González Esteban, refereeing in La Liga for the first time, booked one player on each side.
The result equals the best 100 per cent start in Barcelona's history, six competitive wins from six. Racing Santander visit the Spotify Camp Nou on Wednesday, and a seventh would be a club record. Sevilla away follows on Saturday. Real Madrid go to Elche on Tuesday, then to the Metropolitano for the derby next Sunday, so the gap at the top will be tested from both ends before the week is out. Levante stay 13th on five points.
