Villarreal hammering piles pressure on Levante

Levante is currently the only club in Europe's top six leagues that have failed to register a single win in their domestic campaign so far. The club has drawn eight outings and lost the other eleven they have played.

Levante are stuck at the bottom of the La Liga table, still failing to get into double digits. Their misery was compounded when the first fixture of the new year gave them a reality check as they ended up losing to Villarreal by a whooping 5-0 margin.

Embarrassment at El Madrigal

Villarreal did not hesitate to dictate their superiority as they went ahead in under ten minutes.

Boulaye Dia headed home a goal from an excellent cross from Samu Chukwueze. This was just the beginning as Levante's start to the new year was about to unravel. Unai Emery's side struck again in less than five minutes. This time Vicente Iborra's header fell to Pau Torres who slammed the ball home at the far post.

Levante, who employs a classic 4-1-4-1 set-up, saw their holding midfielder Nemanja Radoja caught off position time and again. Meanwhile, Villarreal continued to threaten to score another.

In the 37th minute, Villarreal got their third after Gerard Moreno dribbled past the Levante backline to slam a wrong-footed shot home. The visitors went into the break at 3-0.

Levante was once again put under pressure as Moreno continued to create brilliant chances in the second half. The Spaniard was unlucky in many ways not to get a hat-trick. However, he did help Manuel Trigueros get on the scoresheet after passing a loose ball only for the latter to hit it home.

Moreno capped off his day by scoring a brace when Yeremy Pino dibbled past the Levante defenders to get the ball across only for the Spaniard to tap in.

It was nothing less than a mauling for Levante, who could not have anticipated this kind of a meltdown in a local derby.

Levante heading towards relegation

Paco Lopez's tenure at the club got off to the worst possible start as the club failed to register a single win until October. He was replaced by former Fulham assistant coach Javier Pereira.

However, things have remained exactly the same.

The club now finds themselves six points off their nearest opponent, Cadiz, and eight points off relegation. Unless they manage to register a victory and convert it into a promising run, La Liga 2 remains a likely destination for Levante next season.