On a heavily watered pitch at the Estadio Ciudad de Valencia, Barcelona took the initiative against Levante with Lamine Yamal and Marcus Rashford - on his first start for the Catalans - on the front foot during the opening exchanges.
A wicked deflection on Alejandro Balde’s goalbound shot had Pablo Campos well beaten, but luckily for the hosts, the ball whistled just wide of the post.
Levante took full advantage of that reprieve, and on the quarter-hour mark, they beat Barca’s high line, and despite the visitors having three defenders in close proximity to Ivan Romero, the attacker simply dropped his shoulder to give him time to fire past Joan Garcia.
The visitors looked for a response, and Ferran Torres ought to have scored on 36’ but crashed his shot against the crossbar, before Hansi Flick’s men had a lucky escape when Adrian de la Fuente guided a free header wide of the target.
Any relief the Blaugrana were feeling proved only temporary when, in stoppage time, a counter-attack from the hosts ended with a penalty awarded against Balde for handball after a VAR review.
Jose Luis Morales made no mistake from the spot with the final kick of the first half, netting his fourth career goal against Barca.
Rashford and Marc Casado were sacrificed at the break, with Dani Olmo and Gavi introduced as Barca attempted to claw themselves back into the match.
And they did just that, as within three minutes of the restart, a 25-yard piledriver from Pedri started the comeback, before Torres volleyed home from a corner to level things up in the blink of an eye.
Incessant Barca pressure was still tempered by a defence that was very open at the back, offering up more opportunities for Levante. The better chances were still falling to the visitors, as Eric Garcia and Torres both saw free headers saved.
Pedri continued to conduct the orchestra, pushing the visitors forward at every opportunity. Robert Lewandowski was added to the fray with 15 minutes to go as the pressure became relentless, and after Jules Kounde flashed a shot wide, Levante’s rearguard finally caved.
Lamine Yamal’s floated cross caused havoc, and it was inadvertently headed into his own net by Unai Elgezabal in the first minute of stoppage time.
Barcelona have now scored two or more goals in 13 of their last 16 LaLiga games, whilst Levante missed the chance to make it three successive home wins for the first time since January 2021 and remain pointless on their top-flight return.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Pedri (Barcelona)