Atletico Madrid can count their lucky stars that they somehow still are top of the LaLiga table. Barcelona had the chance to overtake them with a win over Levante, but they instead were held by their opponents to a 3-3 draw.
Barcelona threw away a two-goal lead in an eventual 3-3 draw against Levante. The Blaugrana wasted another opportunity to leapfrog Atletico Madrid at the top of the table, who now have the advantage in the LaLiga title race. Meanwhile, Ronald Koeman’s side now risks falling behind rivals Real Madrid into third place, should Los Blancos win their match against Granada.
Given what was on the line, Barcelona started the match in an extremely attacking manner. They could’ve had two goals before the five-minute mark, with two great opportunities falling to the teenager Pedri. However, the youngster fired over from his first attempt from close range before being denied by Aitor Fernandes from his second.
Nevertheless, Barcelona made the breakthrough in the 26th minute, when Messi fired in an acrobatic shot past Aitor from a Jordi Alba cross. Minutes later, they went two-nil ahead as Pedri made amends for his earlier gilt-edged chances by scoring the goal. The Spaniard tapped the ball into an empty net after Ousmane Dembele had dragged the goalkeeper, and his defence, away from the goal.
Levante pulled two goals back in the second half and levelled the match – although it wouldn’t be the last time that they would do it. Gonzalo Melero scored his side’s first in the 57th minute as he headed past Marc-Andre ter Stegen from close range. Two minutes later, Levante were level through Jose Morales’ well-taken goal. El Comandante played a one-two on the Barcelona box with his teammate before firing a volley past Ter Stegen.
Unshaken by Levante’s comeback, Barcelona took the lead for the second time in the match shortly past the hour mark through Dembele. However, once again, they were pegged back by their opponents, who equalized late on through Sergio Leon. The forward flicked the ball past the Barca custodian from close range to save a point for his side.
