At the Estadio Ciudad de Valenica, the hosts got a much needed win this evening as they defeated a very good Málaga side thanks to a hat-trick from David Barral as Levante won by 4-1.
Levante were the better of the two clubs early in the match as both David Barral and Jordi Xumetra miss chances inside of three minutes. In the 12th minute, Morales would have a right footed effort fall straight into the hands of Carlos Kameni. With 24 minutes off of the clock, Málaga would strike first, against the run of play, in their first chance of the night as Juanmi found the top right hand corner from inside of the six yard box. Levante would equalize quickly, though, with an absolutely stunning free kick from Barral from just outside of the area on the left.
The hosts would continue to push forward and at the half hour mark of the match, Uche had a close range header saved after Morales delivered a beautiful ball into the eighteen yard box. In the 37th minute, Barral would be brought down inside the box by Arthur Boka, and he would step up to the spot and convert it, giving Levante the advantage again. Three minutes later, Uche would miss another header as he was set up by Iván López this time.
The second half started out fairly slowly with both sides trying to grow into the match. However, in the 59th minute of the match, Juanmi had a chance to level the match, but his header from the center of the box was saved easily. And in the 62nd minute of the match, Jordi Xumetra was brought down inside of the eighteen yard box by Sergio Sánchez. David Barral completed his hattrick after he converted his second spot kick of the match bringing up. Toño made his way down the left flank excellently, and whipped in a low cross. The Málaga goalkeeper, Kameni, tried to come out and play the ball, but missed. Uche was there wait and put the ball into the back of the net giving Levante a three goal advantage.