Another goal from Luis Suarez and an own goal from David Navarro gave Barcelona a 2-0 victory over Levante on Sunday.
Coming in the match off the back of their 7-0 thrashing of Valencia in the first leg of the Copa Del Rey semi-finals, they got another three points this weekend and continue to build momentum for another successful La Liga campaign.
Visitors take inevitable lead
The first half started with some wonderful build-up play from the Blaugrana and they should have been a goal up by the third minute. However, after Lionel Messi put the ball into the back of the net, the goal was wrongly disallowed for offside.
Levante could have taken the lead themselves less than 10 minutes later, but a lack of composure from Deyverson was to be punished as Barca went ahead anyway after 21 minutes. Neymar was the creator, with his teasing ball in front the left deflected by David Navarro into his own net, leaving Diego Mariño with no chance.
The visitors almost made it 2-0 four minutes later as a cross from Messi on the right found Suarez, but he couldn’t get his shot on target it as it went wide of Mariño’s goal.
Levante can't cap good spell with a goal
However, Levante produced some marvelous football shortly following the goal. Verza won a free kick on the half hour mark and curled a decent effort towards goal, but Bravo watched it over the crossbar. Following that, Jefferson Leama also had a clear chance one-on-one with Bravo, but his shot was off target.
In the 38th minute, Jose Luis Morales was all by himself, beating all the Barcelona defenders, but his shot cannoned off the woodwork as Levante enjoyed a real purple patch in the game. It was an entertaining first half for both sets of fans, but Barcelona had the upper hand with their earlier goal.
Security finally comes
In the second half, Giuseppe Rossi gave the hosts the first big chance of the period, but his shot was well saved by Bravo as Levante's bright spell tailed off.
A big chance for Barcelona then came just short of the hour from a corner as they started to take contorl again, but Ivan Rakitic’s header was saved by Mariño. Opportunities continued to come though and they would eventually take another to wrap the points up, only after more were missed however, Neymar this time striking wide from a free-kick.
In the last minute of the match, it was Suarez who made it 2-0. Messi played a wonderfully accurate pass to the Uruguayan striker and he made no mistake as he sent his shot past Mariño to ensure all three points for the Blaugrana.
With that win, Barcelona are now three points above Atletico Madrid and seven above Real Madrid. The Catalans will take on Celta Vigo on Valentine’s Day at home.
For Levante, despite the loss, they will be delighted with their performance against this tough Barcelona side, having created various chances during the 90 minutes. That didn’t mean anything though as they are still bottom of the table, five points from safety, as they look to get a result against Eibar next Sunday.