Barcelona thrashes Levante 4-2 to strengthen their lead in the Spanish league

Barcelona strengthened their hold at the top of the Spanish La Liga standings after defeating hosts Levante 4-2 on Sunday, in the fifth round of the competition.

The victory moved Barcelona to 15 points at the summit, three points clear of second-placed Real Madrid, who won 4-1 against Rayo Vallecano the previous day in the same round.

On the other hand, Levante remained on five points, sitting in 13th place.

Barcelona took the lead in the fifth minute through Chavi Espart, who fired a powerful shot from outside the box that struck the Levante defense and beat goalkeeper Matteo Ryan.

Barcelona doubled their advantage in the 19th minute when Lamine Yamal scored after Raphinha dribbled into the penalty area, beat the goalkeeper, and laid off a perfect pass for Yamal to slot home easily.

Levante struggled to contain the Catalan side’s early pressure and failed to prevent a second goal.

At the start of the second half, Barcelona continued to press in search of a third goal, finding it in the 48th minute through Lamine Yamal again, this time from a penalty spot.

Yamal had been fouled inside the box by Levante defender Issa Mandi, leading the referee to award a penalty, which Yamal confidently converted to make it 3-0.

Levante improved their performance and reduced the deficit in the 79th minute through Ivan Romero.

They scored a second goal in the 88th minute via Roger Roki, whose initial shot was saved by Juan Garcia but rebounded back to him, allowing him to fire it into the net.

However, Barcelona secured the victory with a fourth goal in the second minute of stoppage time, as Karim Ademi broke through the Levante defense on an individual run to finish clinically.

No further goals were scored in the remaining minutes, and the referee blew the final whistle to confirm Barcelona’s 4-2 win over Levante.