Barcelona put three goals past Levante at the Spotify Camp Nou last night, putting an end to the bleeding after two straight defeats.
The Catalans’ performance was dominant, albeit not convincing, but it still will go a long way in resetting the mood in the dressing room, which has been grim in recent days.
Marc Bernal, Frenkie de Jong and Fermin Lope scored the goals for Barcelona against Levante, but the fact remains that the team’s finishing must significantly improve.
After all, the margin could well have been double if not for poor finishing.
Barça Universal brings you three takeaways from Barcelona 3-0 Levante.
A night for midfielders
Despite Barcelona’s attacking trident of Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha starting on Sunday evening, none of the team’s goals came directly from them.
Instead, it was Barcelona’s midfield that stepped up on the night and delivered a great show, scoring all three of the team’s goals and creating the chances almost independently.
Barcelona’s opener went to Marc Bernal’s name just minutes after the opening whistle as the youngster scored his second goal of the season with good timing of his strike.
Receiving the ball from Eric Garcia’s cross, he lunged forward without straying offside and accurately put the ball past the goalkeeper.
Later in the first half, Barcelona captain and midfielder Frenkie de Jong scored his first goal of the campaign, again with a well-timed run.
In his case, he got on the end of Joao Cancelo’s stunning cross with a precise and vicious run and bundled the ball past Matthew Ryan.
The third goal came out of nowhere in the 81st minute when Fermin Lopez decided to take matters into his own hands and struck a stunning strike from outside the box with his weaker foot – one that thundered past the goalkeeper and struck the woodwork before going in.
It was thus a curious night against Levante with all three goals going to midfielders with limited involvement from the front three.
Once again, it highlighted how the Catalans do not rely on any single goalscoring outlet and have multiple routes of scoring.
Joao Cancelo puts on a show
While Barcelona’s midfield stole the show not only with their goals but with the dominance in possession, comfort on the ball and counter-pressing, one individual who stood out a class apart was Joao Cancelo.
The Portuguese star, who arrived only in the winter, had not enjoyed anywhere close to his best in the five appearances he had before Sunday’s and was seemingly on the decline in prominence on Hansi Flick’s pecking order.
What he put on last evening, however, was an absolute show and perhaps one of the most attacking performances put up by a Barcelona full-back in a long time.
Cancelo was untouchable in the first half, winning back balls with high pressure and looking very comfortable in possession and the link-up in tight spaces.
His crosses, however, stole the show and came in with vicious precision time and time again. Truth be told, he could have finished the game with a hat-trick and a goal to his name.
The former Manchester City player had five defensive actions and won four duels in 90 minutes. He had a staggering 105 touches, seven progressive carries and two successful dribbles.
With three key passes, he created two big chances and also delivered a 91% completion rate on his passes. He had just the assist for Frenkie de Jong to show, but could have had a couple more and hit the woodwork once.
Cancelo’s performance, needless to say, comes as a statement performance especially given how Alejandro Balde has been benched for a second straight game.
His display will undoubtedly see Flick incorporate him more often as a weapon against low-blocks.
Back on top
Last weekend, Barcelona gave away the lead in La Liga to Real Madrid after losing to Girona and found themselves two points behind their arch-rivals.
Having been ahead in the standings for a good couple of months, it came as a serious blow for Flick’s side, especially given how they cheaply suffered two defeats in the competition.
Real Madrid’s position as leaders, however, was not long-lived as they lost to Osasuna on Saturday night, handing Barcelona a chance to take back the top position, and the Catalans indeed did.
With the three points last evening, Barcelona move to 61 points after 25 games and are back in the driver’s seat, one point above Real Madrid and back to where they were before the Girona defeat.
At a point in the season that many may consider to be their lowest, the position on the standings comes as a massive boost to the dressing room and will motivate them to think of the remontada against Atletico Madrid as a real possibility.
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