Barcelona sealed a magical comeback win over Levante, recovering from 2-0 down at half-time to score a 91st-minute winner and keep their perfect start to the La Liga season alive in a thrilling contest.
It was a tale of two wingers as Lamine Yamal assisted the injury-time own goal while Marcus Rashford started his first game for the club but was substituted at half time as the visitors sputtered in the first half.
In a game between the La Liga and Segunda Division champions, it was the newly promoted side who got out of the blocks faster.
Roger Brugue, Ivan Romero and 38-year-old stalwart Jose Luis Morales appeared to have cracked the code to Hansi Flick’s high defensive line, and though they were caught offside four times in the first half they also created several gilt-edged chances when they timed their runs perfectly.
That pressure paid off after a quarter of an hour when all three combined to give Romero a shooting opportunity from close range, the striker dancing around Pau Cubarsi and firing under Joan Garcia to open the scoring.
And Levante were even further into dreamland in added time at the end of the first half when Morales’ shot cannoned into Alejandro Balde’s arm following another counter-attack and the veteran made no mistake from the penalty spot.
But it was a different story after Dani Olmo and Gavi replaced Rashford and Marc Casado, as a swerving Pedri shot from distance beat Pablo Campos and Ferran Torres then turned the ball home from a corner to square the contest up just seven minutes into the second half before Unai Elgezabal redirected Yamal’s cross into his own net at the death.
It’s a heartbreaking loss for Levante, the second time in two weeks that they’ve conceded a winner in the 91st minute, while Barcelona look to continue their winning start against Rayo Vallecano next weekend.
