Highlights: Messi scores a brace but misses penalty as Barcelona win 4-1 against Levante
FC Barcelona registered a convincing 4-1 win at home against Levante on Sunday night to sustain their position as La Liga leaders.
Lionel Messi’s double coupled with goals from Neymar and Marc Batra sealed all three points for the Blaugranas who now have won all of their league games this season with a maximum of 12 points from 4 games.
The defending champions created a host of chances in the first half itself but were unable to capitalise owing to the sloppy finishing from their attackers. The ever-reliant Messi opened up the Levante defence as early as in the 6th minute as he laid off Munir after a quick exchange with Neymar, but the youngster side-netted his effort.
Messi tried his luck himself just minutes later after a mazy dribble, but his first attempt was blocked by a defender while his second lacked the power to trouble Ruben between the sticks. The hosts continued to push for the opener as Neymar, Munir and Sandro were all guilty of wasting opportunities.
Barcelona could have been punished on the counter by the visitors but Nabil Ghilas wasted the chance by firing his shot wide. Both sides went into their dressing rooms with the scoreline at stalemate.
But the Catalan giants compensated for their first half misses as it only took 11 minutes for Messi and co to finish off the visitors in the second half. Five minutes from the break, the Argentine found Batra with a perfect cross and the defender placed it into the back of the net from close range.
Neymar doubled their lead soon after Ruben failed to punch clear Dani Alves' cross and the former Santos man added his name to the scoresheet after his initial attempt was blocked by a defender.
Messi got on the scoresheet at the hour mark converting the penalty earned by Neymar who was brought down by Angel Trujillo thus extending their lead to 3-0. Levante pulled back one in the 65th minute courtesy of Casadesus after Ter Stegen misjudged a cross allowing the forward to slot the ball into an empty net.
After earning a second penalty, Messi was unable to hit the target this time making it 6 misses from last 12 penalties, but he did clinch his brace in the 90th minute with a crisp low finish into the bottom-left corner to cap a resounding success.