Spanish Inquisition: Can Levante Spring A Surprise On The Mighty Barcelona?

The past week has been full of surprises for any football fan as there was no shortage of results that would otherwise have been deemed impossible to occur. Manchester United ran into a wall with their draw and defeat to Newcastle United and Crystal Palace respectively. Chelsea experienced mixed fortunes as they won against Wolves and lost to Liverpool again in the midweek game.

But the real surprise came from the Iberian Peninsula as the Getafe showed to the world that the mighty Barcelona players were after all human. Their 1-0 win must have brought renewed hope to the other sides in the world that the European champions are beatable and also would have brought a smile to a certain Portuguese in the Spanish capital.

Just when people started to think that Barcelona’s decline might start with the Getafe defeat, Barcelona did what only champions are capable of doing. Hitting back and they did that in some style against Rayo Vallecano with a resounding 4-0 win in the midweek.

Barcelona’s next assignment is against a Levante side who have defied expectations to play some neat and tidy football to earn themselves an impressive 4^th spot in the La Liga table. Anybody who had seen the Barcelona-Rayo Vallecano game would have adjudged this game to the Catalans but given that Levante have already given Real Madrid a real fight and thrashed cash-rich Malaga and Villarreal, Barcelona would want to take this game very seriously.

Both sides come into this game with a good string of results behind them and with all their players in a rich vein of form. Midfielder Juanlu is Levante’s top scorer with 5 goals . This may seem a paltry statistic compared to the awesome power that Barcelona bring to the game with talisman Messi leading the goalscoring charts with 16 goals already to his name.

This along with David Villa’s gradually rising confidence will only bring fear to the Levante defence which is ageing like most of the squad. Nevertheless there is quality and experience in the Levante backline that will prove mighty handy in containing the likes of Messi, Villa, Fabregas or Sanchez.

If there was ever a weakness in the Barcelona ranks then it is arguably their inability to look comfortable without the presence of Carles Puyol who is so vital in all their successes. His power, leadership abilities and expert reading of the game enables Barcelona to play their free flowing style without a worry as they are assured by the presence of their talismanic captain.

Can Mascherano And Co. Keep Levante Quiet?

His knee injury has been a big blow and Barcelona have resorted to experimenting with 3-man defence or using makeshifts Javier Mascherano and Sergio Busquets to provide cover. The weaker teams in the league may not have had reason to trouble the defence but when the opposition possesses some quality then the backline has been found wanting.

Barcelona would be facing plenty of such quality when Levante come calling and they will have to be at the top of their game when they are faced with the likes of Arouna Kone, Juanlu and Xavi Torres.