Everything Barca
Fansided

Barcelona humiliate Levante 5-0 to maintain their league lead

By Benjamin Barkworth

Barcelona's Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez (L) celebrates a goal with Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi during the Spanish League football match between Levante and Barcelona at the Ciutat de Valencia stadium in Valencia on December 16, 2018. (Photo by JOSE JORDAN / AFP) (Photo credit should read JOSE JORDAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Barcelona's Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez (L) celebrates a goal with Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi during the Spanish League football match between Levante and Barcelona at the Ciutat de Valencia stadium in Valencia on December 16, 2018. (Photo by JOSE JORDAN / AFP) (Photo credit should read JOSE JORDAN/AFP/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Barcelona gained revenge after last season’s result with a 5-0 demolishing.

Nelson Semedo’s injury forced Ernesto Valverde into using a 3-5-2 system with Ousmane Dembele filling the right wing-back role, so Barcelona weren’t as fluent as they usually are due to this. Thomas Vermaelen came in as the extra centre-back on the left side with Clement Lenglet playing in the centre and Jordi Alba shifting across to the left wing-back position.

Emmanuel Boateng had the first major chance of the match in the 6th minute when he received the ball in the box and fired a shot to the bottom corner, but Marc-Andre ter Stegen was equal to it. Unsurprisingly, Messi had the first major chance for Barcelona, however, Oier was equal to his free kick. Boateng’s movement continued to cause problems for the new-look Barcelona back line as he received the ball in the box once again, his shot went past ter Stegen but crashed back off the crossbar.

Levante’s willingness to take risks was their undoing, though, as they tried playing out from the back; Barca were able to regain possession high up the pitch and Messi found Luis Suarez with an excellent reverse ball which the Uruguayan expertly finished. Another sloppy bit of play saw them lose possession, which allowed Sergio Busquets to play in Messi and he comfortably dispatched the chance past the goalkeeper.

Not long after the start of the second half, Barcelona were able to catch Levante on the counter which ended with Messi firing the ball into the corner when the ball broke to him in the box. Valverde opted for a mid-game switch as Arthur Melo came on for Vermaelen with Rakitic shifting into the right side of the back three. This move appeared to give Barcelona more control over proceedings with the game becoming less open in the process. The Brazilian had a quick impact as he played in Suarez in a 1v1, but the Uruguayan was only able to fire the ball at Oier.

It wasn’t long before Barcelona had a fourth, though, as Suarez crossed for Vidal who cut it back for an easy tap-in for Messi at the far post. This ended the game as a contest with Levante mainly focused on getting a consolation goal which left gaps for the Catalans to exploit. Erick Cabaco’s red card in the 76th minute made their task even harder. Gerard Pique finished the scoring in the 88th minute after Messi found him in the box.

Next. Barcelona should avoid signing Alvaro Morata. dark

Levante gave them problems in the first half as they were able to get in behind the midfield as well as creating a number of dangerous chances which Boateng was the main recipient of. However, Levante’s defensive leakiness came back to haunt them as Barcelona were able to take advantage of a number of mistakes to build a lead. This was a professional performance from Barca especially considering they were playing away from home, but most importantly they managed to keep a clean sheet.