La Liga: Barca battle back from 2-goal down to beat Valente

Valencia, Aug 24
FC Barcelona battled back from two-goal down collect three points by beating newly promoted Levante, thanks to second half goals from Pedri, Ferran and an injury time own goal

Barca had already been issued a warning when a clearly offside José Luis Morales found the net after eight minutes, and on the quarter hour mark the home side did it again, and this time it counted.

New signing Jeremy Toljan collected a cross at the far post and laid it back for Ivan Romero to fire past Joan Garcia.

Levante were playing fine football, but Barça were by no means under-performing. Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Balde both had fine chances before conceding, while Lamine Yamal, Pedri and others came close to scoring after, and Ferran Torres even rattled one off the crossbar. But frustratingly, the only other goal of the first half also came at the wrong end.

A Balde handball on the brink of the half-time whistle was checked by VAR and deemed serious enough to warrant a penalty.

Just five minutes into the second half and Barca were back level. On 49 minutes, and following a set play from a corner, Pedri delivered an absolute rocket from outside the area, and the home side were still licking their wounds when their suffering doubled.

This one came from a corner too. Raphinha whipped the ball straight into the area and there was Ferran waiting to meet it and smash Barca back level.

Levante were holding on strong at the back, and although Barça were getting chances, they weren’t exactly flowing with ease. Raphinha had the best, but Pablo Campos produced a brilliant save, and with 90 minutes up it was starting to look like Barça were going to have to settle for a draw.

Lamine initiated the move, and although Unai Elgezabal did his best to intercept his dangerous cross, all he did was deflect the ball into his own net.