Barca Out to Overturn Copa Deficit

2018/19 Copa Del Rey

Round of 16 – 2^nd leg

Thursday, January 17^th

BARCELONA VS LEVANTE – NOU CAMP – AGG: 1-2

La Liga leaders and defending Copa Del Rey champions Barcelona will welcome Levante to the iconic Camp Nou Stadium on Thursday for their Round of 16 2^nd leg clash following last week’s shock 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Granotas.
 
The Blaugrana bounced back from that first-leg loss to Levante – their first defeat in their last 10 matches in all competitions – by easing past Eibar 3-0 this past weekend to maintain their healthy five-point advantage over Atletico Madrid in the league standings, who themselves beat Levante 1-0 on Sunday.

Luis Suarez bagged a brilliant brace either side of the half-time break before laying on team-mate Lionel Messi for his 17^th goal of the season. They now have 31 league goals between them in 2018/19 and the beastly pair are both expected to make their first Copa Del Rey appearances of the campaign on Thursday as Barcelona attempt to claw themselves into the quarter-finals.



Levante currently occupy 12^th place in Spain’s top-flight although find themselves just four points adrift of the bottom three and are without a win in their last five in the division. They are the league’s third-highest scoring team however with 30 goals to their name at the halfway point, better than the likes of both Atletico and Real Madrid.

Roger Marti is the sides leading marksman with 8 league goals to his name although all eyes were on on-load Real Madrid man Borja Mayoral who stole the headlines last week when his goal sent Levante 2-0 up against Barcelona with less than 20 minutes on the clock.

That was just Levante’s second-ever triumph over the mighty Barcelona with both victories coming in two of their last three home outings against them, in the league and cup respectively. Levante stunned Barcelona 5-4 back in May with Emmanuel Boateng’s hat-trick for the hosts ultimately outshining the trio scored by Barca’s new Brazilian recruit Phillipe Coutinho.

Barcelona returned the favour a month ago when Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick of his own in a 5-0 romping, signalling a return to form for the league leaders who have won 17 of the last 21 meetings with Levante in all competitions, at an astonishing average of 3.38 goals per game.
 


Barcelona vs Levante recent results: (all competitions)

10/01/2019 – Levante 2-1 Barcelona
16/12/2018 – Levante 0-5 Barcelona
13/05/2018 – Levante 5-4 Barcelona
07/01/2018 – Barcelona 3-0 Levante
07/02/2016 – Levante 0-2 Barcelona
20/09/2015 – Barcelona 4-1 Levante
15/02/2015 – Barcelona 5-0 Levante
 

 
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