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Score: Barcelona 3-0 Levante
Scorers: Lionel Messi 12' (one-two with Jordi Alba), Luis Suarez 38' (brilliant finish off a Sergi Roberto cross), Paulinho 93' (finish from close range after some Messi magic)
Barcelona moved to 48 points (9 above Atletico, 11 above Valencia and a whopping 17 above Madrid - who have two games in hand to be fair) with a routine win over sinking Levante and here are the five key talking points from the match.
#5 Marc-Andre Ter Stegen has made Barcelona a better team
The inimitable Sunny Sagar recently named Marc-Andre Ter Stegen the best goalkeeper in the world, and as he showed against Levante Sunny was dead on in his assessment. Levante attacked with intent - noticing that a centre-back pairing of Javier Mascherano and Thomas Vermalean isn't exactly Maldini-Baresi-esque and they created plenty of chances, but every time they broke into the box, the German stood tall.
Some of the saves were comfortable, some were spectacular but at no point in time did he look like he was going to get beat. This brilliance permeates through the entire team and gives them a confidence that is irreplaceable.
No team can move from good to great without a great goalkeeper, and in ter Stegen, Barca certainly have one.
#4 Levante pay for lack of clinical finishing
As much as credit is due to Ter Stegen for the saves he pulled (at least two were utterly world-class), Levante's poor finishing let them down time and time again. While it's accepted that when you travel to Barcelona, you will never have much of the ball - but when chances crop up they must be taken.
Easier said than done, for sure, but with just 18 points in 18 games, they are just three points off the drop zone (with Deportivo La Coruna and Alaves 17th and 18th on 15 points, both having a game in hand) and even though they are likely to get wallopped around a bit by the 'big boys', improved finishing could just give them an edge in the relegation dogfight.
They're playing pretty well, a touch of class up front and they will be in La Liga for another season.
#3 Luis Suarez silences critics early on in 2018
Luis Suarez has been doing the thing he does best - score goals and lots of them - but over the past year and a half or so he's been doing it mainly thanks to his poaching instincts rather than his own supernatural skill.
He's lost a yard of pace, his dribbling doesn't have the pizzazz of old and there's always the sneaky suspicion around him that were it not for Leo Messi's ethereal genius, he'd be about as effective as Karim Benzema is at Real Madrid at the moment.
Against Levante, though, he scored a goal of the highest order - an acrobatic half-volley taken with the ball at the nearly-chest level, making it his sixth in the last seven league games for Barca.
If he continues on like this, 2018 could be a very different year for the great Uruguayan and we'd be talking about him in the same breath as the Lewandowskis and the Kanes of the world!
#2 Ernesto Valverde's 4-4-2 pays dividends yet again
Ernesto Valverde's appointment at Barcelona was greeted with jeers of derision - supposedly the lack of a superstar pedigree (as coach and as player) meant he wasn't good enough - but in half a season, the Basque has shut his critics up... and completely changed the way Barcelona played, so much so that if you saw clips of Luis Enrique's last season vs this one, it'd take you back.
Valverde, adjusting to the loss of Neymar Jr., shifted focus back to Barca's traditional stronghold, midfield, and that was evident against Levante as well. When with the ball, Barca are a fluid amalgamation of 4-4-2 and 4-3-3, off it, the system is clear. Four at the back, four across the middle, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez mucking it about in front of them
The four across the middle maintain superb discipline, making Barcelona unusually hard to break down on the rare occasions they are not in possession of the ball and this marriage of traditional Catalan 'values' and Basque pragmatism is working to perfection.
Great moment for Phil Coutinho to make his bow on the elite(st) stage of world football.
#1 Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba are connecting on a telepathic level... as is Paulinho
Lionel Messi.
La Liga Matches played: 400
La Liga goals scored: 364
I'll just leave that there. Look at it. Understand it. Digest it.... no, try to. And he's just getting better and better and better...
His goal on the night - the opener - showcased just how much he connects with Jordi Alba... the Argentine and the Spaniard playing a one-two of the highest order, Alba's cushioned header back as good as Messi's finish. Alba's prospering this season, Neymar's disappearance this season opening up that left flank of his again and his renewed connection with Messi is testament to that
Meanwhile, he also made sure Paulinho's red-hot form continues.... with 7, no midfielder in La Liga has scored more than the Brazilian... and it's uncanny just how well Messi is beginning to pick out Paulinho's superb runs into the box.
