Levante end Barcelonas unbeaten run in nine goal thriller
News & Trends •
for levante this is their eighth win in 10 matches under new coach paco lopez who took charge with the club in danger of relegation but has overseen a remarkable transformation. they move up to 15th2 levante stunned barcelona on sunday with a 5-4 defeat ending the catalans unbeaten run in the season despite philippe coutinhos hat trick2 the la liga and copa del rey champions trailed 5-1 after an hour and still came within a whisker of a sensational comeback as coutinhos second and third goals and a luis suarez penalty set up a grandstand finish2 but levante held on for a thrilling victory which ended their opponents hopes of becoming the first ever club to finish a 38-game la liga season as invincibles2 after drawing at home to real madrid last weekend despite playing the second half with 10 men and thrashing villarreal barcelona sat just two games away from the historical feat2 it was 1932 when the last side real madrid went unbeaten in the top-flight but even that was across only 18 matches in a 10-team division2 this was barcelonas first league loss since slipping up against malaga on april 8 last year and while it has minimal impact on the table valverde will have questions to answer not least with regards to leaving out messi2 this defensive collapse was reminiscent of their champions league meltdown against roma which has soured an otherwise successful campaign. the unbeaten record was supposed to help atone for the european failure2 ernesto valverde rested lionel messi for his teams penultimate match of the campaign but it was a defensive horror-show that allowed emmanuel boateng to score a hat trick of his own and enis bardhi a brace at the city of valencia stadium2 pacos players exploded out of the blocks and pulled ahead in the ninth minute when boateng nipped in at the near post after jose luis morales weaving run down the left2 bardhi hit the woodwork with a lifted finish over marc-andre ter stegen but barca failed to heed the warnings and boateng made it two after half an hour latching on to sasa lukics threaded ball through2 coutinho pulled one back with a rasping shot before half-time but three levante goals in 10 minutes after the interval sent the home fans into delirium2 bardhis blistering shot restored the two-goal advantage before boateng completed his hat-trick as barcas defence was ripped apart again on the break2 another counter just before the hour ended with another crisp bardhi finish as barca were now staring at a four-goal deficit2 the game looked dead but coutinho scored twice in six minutes the first a close-range finish after ousmane dembeles shot spilled loose the second an instinctive shot from the edge of the area2 when boateng brought down sergio busquets in the area and suarez drove the penalty down the middle with 20 minutes left it felt inevitable barca would find a fifth2 but without messi even to bring on levante withstood the late onslaught and should even have scored a sixth only for ruben rochina to shoot wide after a dreadful backpass by busquets. it was the final mistake of an error-strewn display2

Levante end Barcelonas unbeaten run in nine goal thriller
News & Trends •
for levante this is their eighth win in 10 matches under new coach paco lopez who took charge with the club in danger of relegation but has overseen a remarkable transformation. they move up to 15th2 levante stunned barcelona on sunday with a 5-4 defeat ending the catalans unbeaten run in the season despite philippe coutinhos hat trick2 the la liga and copa del rey champions trailed 5-1 after an hour and still came within a whisker of a sensational comeback as coutinhos second and third goals and a luis suarez penalty set up a grandstand finish2 but levante held on for a thrilling victory which ended their opponents hopes of becoming the first ever club to finish a 38-game la liga season as invincibles2 after drawing at home to real madrid last weekend despite playing the second half with 10 men and thrashing villarreal barcelona sat just two games away from the historical feat2 it was 1932 when the last side real madrid went unbeaten in the top-flight but even that was across only 18 matches in a 10-team division2 this was barcelonas first league loss since slipping up against malaga on april 8 last year and while it has minimal impact on the table valverde will have questions to answer not least with regards to leaving out messi2 this defensive collapse was reminiscent of their champions league meltdown against roma which has soured an otherwise successful campaign. the unbeaten record was supposed to help atone for the european failure2 ernesto valverde rested lionel messi for his teams penultimate match of the campaign but it was a defensive horror-show that allowed emmanuel boateng to score a hat trick of his own and enis bardhi a brace at the city of valencia stadium2 pacos players exploded out of the blocks and pulled ahead in the ninth minute when boateng nipped in at the near post after jose luis morales weaving run down the left2 bardhi hit the woodwork with a lifted finish over marc-andre ter stegen but barca failed to heed the warnings and boateng made it two after half an hour latching on to sasa lukics threaded ball through2 coutinho pulled one back with a rasping shot before half-time but three levante goals in 10 minutes after the interval sent the home fans into delirium2 bardhis blistering shot restored the two-goal advantage before boateng completed his hat-trick as barcas defence was ripped apart again on the break2 another counter just before the hour ended with another crisp bardhi finish as barca were now staring at a four-goal deficit2 the game looked dead but coutinho scored twice in six minutes the first a close-range finish after ousmane dembeles shot spilled loose the second an instinctive shot from the edge of the area2 when boateng brought down sergio busquets in the area and suarez drove the penalty down the middle with 20 minutes left it felt inevitable barca would find a fifth2 but without messi even to bring on levante withstood the late onslaught and should even have scored a sixth only for ruben rochina to shoot wide after a dreadful backpass by busquets. it was the final mistake of an error-strewn display2