Barcelona survives 3 penalties, moves back into 2nd place

MADRID: Not even conceding three penalty kicks was enough to stop Barcelona’s impressive run. Barcelona rallied to a 3-2 win against second-to-last Levante in the Spanish league on Sunday, with substitute Luuk de Jong scoring in stoppage time after the Catalan club had conceded three penalties in the second half. The win extended Barcelona’s unbeaten run to 15 matches in all competitions and moved the team back into second place in the league after it was leapfrogged by Sevilla on Saturday.

Barcelona is 12 points behind leader Real Madrid with a game in hand. Madrid beat Getafe 2-0 on Saturday. “It will be hard to contend for the title because Madrid isn’t making many mistakes,” Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández said.

“We both have difficult matches ahead, but if Madrid ends up losing some points maybe we can hope of achieving something bigger.” Barcelona’s rally began after Xavi put Pedri González into the game early in the second half with the team a goal down. The 19-year-old playmaker was rested ahead of Barcelona’s return leg against Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarterfinals of the Europa League on Thursday. Barcelona and Eintracht drew the first leg 1-1 in Germany last week.

José Luis Morales put Levante ahead by converting a penalty kick in the 52nd after a foul by Dani Alves. The second penalty for the hosts came four minutes later after a handball by Barcelona defender Eric García, with Roger Martí missing from the spot. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang equalized for Barcelona with a header off a cross by Ousmane Dembélé in the 59th, and Pedri scored the go-ahead goal from inside the area in the 63rd.