Barcelona gives a thrilling comeback at the Ciutat de València Stadium as they overturned a 2-0 half time deficit to maintain a great start to the season.
Hansi Flick’s squad displayed resilience as efforts from Dani Olmo and Gavi who came on right before the second half began were essential in helping Barcelona tie the game in seven minutes and eventually coming away with the victory. Goals from Pedri González and Ferran Torres leveled the scores for the visitors while a late own goal by Levante’s Unai Elgezabal in the 90th minute sealed their fate.
Pedri who had scored his first goal in La Liga in May 11th 2021 in a 3-1 victory against Levante gave Flick’s side the first goal with a stunning strike from 25yards into the top corner . Pedri who has scored against Levante away for three consecutive games completed 144 touches and 118 accurate passes with a 94% pass accuracy and was named the Man of the Match.
Marcus Rashford who is on loan from Manchester United made his full debut for Barca was one of the standout players of the game. Rashford who was deployed on the left wing was taken off at halftime.
The victory is also believed to have been inspired by Yamal as the champions were frustrated by the Levante side in the first period who were two goals ahead by half time thanks to Iván Romero’s strike- after José Luis Morales’ goal was disallowed for being offside, and José Morales’ penalty. The goal which came in the first minute of stoppage time was due to the efforts of Yamal who swung in a dangerous cross which clipped the head of Levante’s defender Elgezabal into the back of the net.
A lot of reactions were seen from the away fans following the penalty awarded to Levante as VAR flagged Alejandro Balde for a hand ball when blocking a shot and referee Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez awarded a penalty after being reviewing the play on the screen. Famous Spanish referee Mateu Lahoz spoke on the penalty saying it was not a penalty adding that Balde couldn’t pull his hand away from the ball, “it’s not a penalty, Balde can’t pull his hand out.” While Flick on the penalty disclosed that they respected the referee’s adding that “the important thing for us is that we won the three points.” “I don’t understand how the handball rule works… Tchouaméni’s handball last season was clear, this one, for me, wasn’t.”
The Spanish giants are believed to be poised for a great season. They are set for a face off with Rayo Vallecano on Sunday next weekend.
https://x.com/FCBarcelona/status/1959481116676501624
