Barcelona will be looking for their 11th straight victory when they face Levante at Camp Nou. With their previous match ending 5-0 in favor of Los Blaugranas, Luis Enrique's side will try to keep their one point distance with Real Madrid, who defeated Deportivo on Saturday.
It seems that Barcelona's early year defeat against Real Sociedad came just at the right time, because the tide has changed for Los Cules since then. Ten straight victories considering every competition, and with their expensive trio of Neymar, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez finally shaping up as expected, things for the Blaugrana team could not be looking better, just when their schedule will be getting tighter. Lionel Messi might be able to punish Levante's defense one more time, since he currently ranks as the most lethal striker against the Valencian side, having scored ten goals in the team's ten seasons playing in La Liga.
Considering their last outings as hosts for Levante, their visitors have known nothing but defeat in their most recent nine games. In fact, Levante has not won a single match against Barcelona this millenium. Their most recent visit to Camp Nou ended up with a 5-1 score for Los Blaugranas, while their previous outing saw Los Culés score seven times.
On the other hand, Levante's season has been quite disappointing. After a change of coach earlier this season, coach Lucas Alcaraz is yet to find the key elements to avoid relegation. Surely their intention when they enter Camp Nou's turf will be keeping the 0-0 score as long as they can, meaning that every point they can get right now can be key in their fight for survival. Alcaraz knows that most of the team's chances to succeed will rely upon what Kalu Uche and David Barral can do upfront, but with a depleted midfield without Austrian Andreas Ivanschitz and Mohamed Sissoko, things might not look well for them.
During their 5-0 defeat last semester, Barcelona built their score thanks to goals by Neymar, Pedro, Sandro, Rakitic and Messi, who could have made it 6-0 but missed a penalty kick.
Barcelona vs Levante team sheets
Barcelona's lineup: Bravo, Montoya, Bartra, Mascherano, Adriano, Rakitic, Busquets, Xavi, Pedro, Messi, Neymar.
Levante's lineup: Mariño, Lopez, Navarro, Ramis, Toño; Diop, Simao, Morales, Barral, Xumetra, Uche.
Barcelona's subs: Ter Stegen, Piqué, Jordi Alba, Mathieu, Rafinha, Sergi Roberto, Suárez.
Levante's subs: Fernandez, Ruben, Vyntra, Juanfran, Casadesus, Jose Mari, Jason.
Match details, result and original broadcast info
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