Barcelona maintained a perfect start to the La Liga season on Sunday, defeating Levante 4-2 in Valencia. Lamine Yamal netted twice, including a penalty, while Xavi Espart and Karim Adeyemi also scored, keeping the club three points clear at the top of the table.
Barcelona extended their flawless run in La Liga with a hard-fought 4-2 victory against Levante in Valencia on Sunday. The visitors controlled the opening stages, building a commanding lead before fending off a late surge from the home side.
Early Dominance and Lamine Yamal’s Performance
Levante found themselves trailing within the opening 20 minutes as Barcelona applied intense pressure. Xavi Espart opened the scoring in the fifth minute following swift initial play from the visitors, putting the Catalan side ahead.
Swift play from Barcelona soon led to a second goal for Lamine Yamal in the 19th minute, leaving the home side two goals down within 19 minutes. Following this early flurry, Levante rallied and finished the first half with six shots to Barcelona’s three.
Just 42 seconds into the second half, Barcelona were awarded a penalty, which was won and converted by Lamine Yamal in the 48th minute to establish a commanding three-goal lead. The 19-year-old now has three doubles in his past three La Liga matches.
Levante Rally and Karim Adeyemi’s Late Seal
Levante refused to fold, igniting the match late on following defensive errors as the contest entered its final stretch. An errant pass from Espart allowed Levante forward Iván Romero to round goalkeeper Joan García and pass the ball into the net with 12 minutes to go, making it 1-3.
With two minutes remaining, Roger Brugue burst through multiple Barcelona challenges to score a second for Levante, narrowing the gap to 3-2 and threatening a dramatic equalizer. However, the home side’s hopes of a draw were definitively ended by a mazy run and finish from Karim Adeyemi in the 93rd minute, sealing the 4-2 victory for Barcelona deep into stoppage time.
Table Standings and Concurrent Bundesliga Action
The victory leaves Barcelona alone at the top of the table with five wins from five matches, three points ahead of Real Madrid.
Elsewhere in European football on the same day, RB Leipzig bounced back from their Champions League defeat at Como by thumping Hamburg 5-0 at home in the Bundesliga on Sunday. Norway winger Antonio Nusa was the best of the bunch for the hosts, scoring one goal and setting up two more, including one for Christopher Nkunku, the French winger’s first since returning to Leipzig in August.
Tidiam Gomis, Willi Orban, and Romulo also got on the scoresheet for Leipzig, who climbed to fourth with the victory.
“It’s easy to look into the past too much. You lost two games. It’s difficult, but you have to look forward. Today we had to perform and we did, so I think we had a good balance of not thinking too much of the past, but trying to attack today and I think we did it.”
Antonio Nusa, The Guardian
Hamburg’s third big defeat in their third league match this campaign leaves the six-time German champions in bottom spot in the table. Later on Sunday in Spain, Getafe host Deportivo A Coruña before Atlético Madrid visit Real Sociedad. In the big Bundesliga game, unbeaten Bayern Munich travel to promoted Elversberg, who have won their first two matches. In Italy, Napoli host Bologna, while Juventus are at Sassuolo. Paris Saint-Germain – with just two points from their first three games – will try to kickstart their Ligue 1 campaign at Brest.
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