Barcelona 4 -1 Levante: Five talking points
It was just a normal evening at the Camp Nou when Barcelona beat visitors Levante 4-1 in their fourth La Liga game of the season. With this victory, Barcelona go back to the top of the table having won all the four games they have played.Coming into this game after drawing 1-1 at Rome in their midweek Champions League group stage clash, Barcelona had no problem whatsoever dealing with a struggling Levante side coming into the game with a measly two points in three games.After a rather unimpressive scoreless first half, the second half was quite intensive. The Blaugranas immediately got to business with Bartra scoring just four minutes into the second half. Neymar doubled the lead just five minutes later and Messi tucked in a third from the spot in the interval of another few minutes.Another five minutes played and Levante pulled one back, thanks to a Ter Stegen mistake. Then Messi missed a penalty but made amends when he finished the game with one of his typical beautiful solo goals.Here are the major talking points from the game.
#1 Barcelona put on a strong display despite missing regulars
This has been one tough month for the injury-plagued Barcelona squad. This large amount of injuries combined with Pique’s suspension, the transfer ban and a very tight schedule, fielding a completely fit squad was always going to be a problem for Luis Enrique.
But as we know him as the great tactician he is, he dealt with the situation pretty comfortably. We finally saw Barcelona drifting away from their traditional 4-3-3 formation and opting for a hybrid 4-2-3-1. Dani Alves made a comeback from injury to replace Sergi Roberto at the right back position while Suarez, Iniesta and Alba were rested.
This meant the first ever Liga start for Sandro and the first start for Munir since January. Bartra also got the start he deserved and certainly didn’t disappoint. The highlight though was the 20-year old Gerard Gumbau making his debut for the senior team, who played a decent enough game. Are we going to see more of him in the future?