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(L-R) Barcelona’s midfielder Cesc Fabregas, Dani Alves, Brazilian defender Adriano Correia and defender Gerard Pique congratulate their teammate Argentinian forward Lionel Messi on scoring during the Spanish league football match FC Barcelona vs Levante UD at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona
Barcelona cruised to a 7-0 victory against Levante to begin their title defence on a sublime note at Camp Nou. In a goal fest of a match, Barca’s talisman Leo Messi scored a brace to power Barcelona to an overwhelmingly convincing victory against a lacklustre Levante side, which looked totally out of sorts.
Things got rolling really early, as Fabregas set up Alexis Sánchez for a controversial goal in the third minute of the match itself. Levante protested for an off-side, but the linesman kept his flag down.
The second goal, though, was pure masterclass as Messi slotted the ball into the top bottom corner to cap a clinical finish to a great move that involved him, Fabregas and Pedro. Some hurricane football followed, and as the referee blew his whistle marking the end of the first half, Barcelona were 6-0 up with goals from Danny Alves, Pedro, Messi and Xavi in that order. Messi’s second came through a penalty after he was brought down in the Levante box.
The second half was relatively calmer, with Messi being taken off for Iniesta in the 71st minute and Neymar coming on amidst loud cheer from the Camp Nou crowd in the 64th minute. But just when it looked things wouldn’t get any worse for Levante, Pedro added another one to compete a brace, in the process making the score a humiliating 7-0.
Barcelona couldn’t have hoped for a better start, as they dominated the game right from the word go – evident from their 78 per cent possession. Barcelona head to Atlético Madrid next Wednesday for what would definitely be a tougher test.
Final score:
Barcelona 7 Levante-0
Goals -
- Sanchez Alexis 3,
- Lionel Messi 12,
- da Silva Dani Alves 24,
- Rodriguez Pedro 26,
- Lionel Messi 42 pen,
- Hernandez Xavi 45,
- Rodriguez Pedro 74
