Boasting a staggering 22 goals in their last five matches in all competitions, Barcelona approached this game full of confidence, and so it didn’t come as much of a surprise when the visitors took the lead after only five minutes thanks to Xavi Espart’s finish into the bottom-left corner.
The hosts reacted well to this early setback and Joan Garcia was called into action around the quarter-hour mark to prevent Roger Brugue’s 12-yard strike from levelling the contest.
Hansi Flick’s side were in a ruthless mood, though, and they doubled their advantage after 19 minutes. Raphinha did well to round Mathew Ryan before passing the ball in composed fashion from an acute angle for the incoming Lamine Yamal to slot home and net his fifth LaLiga goal of the season.
To Levante’s credit, the home side continued to go toe-to-toe with their opponents and a defensive error from Barca almost led to Victor Garcia halving the deficit before the interval.
Any hope from Levante supporters of a second-half comeback appeared to be extinguished very early on after the restart, as Lamine Yamal was brought down inside the box resulting in a penalty.
The Spaniard stepped up to take the spot-kick himself and converted his effort in confident fashion to extend the visitors’ lead.
With two assists already to his name in the match, Raphinha came agonisingly close to adding a goal to his contributions with a strike that rolled inches wide of the target just before the hour mark.
Luis Castro’s team battled on as the second half progressed, and really should have scored through substitute Ivan Romero, but his close-range shot was somehow blocked just in front of the goal line by Andreas Christensen. Only a minute later, Romero had another strike which was saved well by Joan Garcia at his near post.
Romero would eventually get his goal after 79 minutes, as he capitalised on some poor Barca defending to grab a lifeline for Levante.
Remarkably, Levante scored again with full-time on the horizon, after Brugue capped off a brilliant solo run with a finish into the back of the net.
Barcelona were suddenly under severe pressure, but killed the game off in stoppage time thanks to Karim Adeyemi’s goal on the counter-attack.
Barcelona remain top of LaLiga after this latest victory and sit three points clear of second-placed Real Madrid. They will aim for a sixth successive league win on Wednesday when they host Racing de Santander. Meanwhile, Levante stay 13th and face Athletic Bilbao at home in LaLiga, also on Wednesday.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)
