Barcelona’s unbeaten run in the Spanish LaLiga came to an abrupt end on Sunday following their 5-4 defeat away to Levante.
Barcelona, playing without Lionel Messi, were two games away from going unbeaten in the LaLiga season.
Ghana striker Emmanuel Boateng scored a hat-trick and Enis Bardhi also bagged a brace for Levante while Phillipe Coutinho scored a hat-trick for Barcelona. Luis Suarez also scored from the spot for the Blaugrana.
Boateng fired hosts Levante into the lead in the ninth minute with a simple tap-in.
The Ghanaian forward doubled his side’s lead in the 30th minute before Coutinho scored from the edge of the box to make it 2-1.
Levante started the second half in an astonishing fashion, scoring two goals in the space of two minutes.
Bardhi curled in a shot within the first minute of the second half to make it 3-1. Boateng bagged his hat-trick, slotting his shot past Marc-Andre ter Stegen in goal for Barcelona to make it 4-1 in the 49th minute. Bardhi made it 5-1 in the 56th minute.
Coutinho scored Barcelona’s second goal by slamming home a loose ball in the penalty area of Levante to make it 5-2. The Brazilian grabbed his hat-trick, firing in a shot from outside the box to make it 5-3 before Suarez tucked away a penalty for Barca’s fourth after Boateng was penalized for tripping Sergio Busquets in the box.
Coutinho and Suarez came close to restoring parity for Barcelona but both players missed.
