Bola.net - Thriller 9 Gol, Levante Hentikan Catatan Tak Terkalahkan Barca Barcelona tak jadi mengakhiri musim dengan tak terkalahkan usai secara mengejutkan dibungkam Levante 5-4 dalam lanjutan La Liga jornada 37 yang digelar di Estadio Ciudad de Valencia, Senin (14/5) dini hari WIB. Bomber tuan rumah, Emmanuel Boateng menjadi bintang dalam laga ini dengan mencetak tiga gol alias hat-trick, sedangkan dua gol lainnya disumbang Enis Bardhi. Sementara di kubu Barca, Philippe Coutinho juga tampil impresif dengan mencetak tiga gol, sedangkan satu gol lainnya dicetak Luis Suarez dari titik putih. Laga sudah berlangsung seru sejak menit pertama. Kedua tim sama-sama tampil menyerang. Hasilnya Boateng membawa Levante unggul di menit kesembilan meneruskan assist Jose Luis Morales. Keunggulan Levante bertambah menjadi 2-0 ketika laga berjalan setengah jam. Lagi-lagi Boateng yang menjadi aktornya. Mendapat bola di depan gawang, Boateng lebih dulu melewati Marc-Andre Ter Stegen dan berduel badan dengan Nelson Semedo sebelum menceploskan bola menjadi gol. Coutinho memperkecil ketinggalan Barca menjadi 1-2 di menit ke-38. Tembakan kerasnya dari luar kotak penalti sempat membentur pemain lawan dan melaju deras tanpa mampu dihadang kiper Oier Olazabal. Skor 2-1 untuk keunggulan Levante bertahan hingga turun minum. Hanya semenit usai kembali dari kamar ganti, Levante memperbesar keunggulan menjadi 3-1. Kali ini Bardhi yang mencatatkan namanya di papan skor usai memanfaatkan assist Jose Campana. Tiga menit berselang, Boateng melengkapi penampilan luar biasanya dengan membobol gawang Ter Stegen untuk kali ketiga. Levante pun kini memimpin 4-1. Tuan rumah benar-benar tampil edan di awal babak kedua ini. Bardhi membawa Levante unggul 5-1 lewat gol keduanya yang ia cetak di menit ke-56. Barca tak mau tinggal diam meski sudah tertinggal jauh. Coutinho sukses menipiskan jarak menjadi 2-5 lewat gol keduanya yang ia cetak di menit ke-59. Coutinho mencetak hat-trick di menit 64. Tembakan kerasnya tak mampu dihalau Oier dan sukses membobol gawang tuan rumah. Memasuki menit ke-70, Barca mendapat hadiah penalti setelah Boateng dianggap melanggar Sergio Busquets di kotak terlarang. Suarez yang bertindak menjadi algojo pun sukses menjalankan tugasnya dengan sempurna. Skor kini 5-4 untuk keunggulan Levante. Barca mencoba segala cara untuk memaksakan hasil imbang di sisa laga. Namun usaha Suarez cs belum bisa membuahkan hasil. Levante sempat mendapat peluang emas untuk menambah keunggulan di masa injury. Sayang usaha pemain pengganti, Ruben Rochina masih melebar dari sasaran. Skor 5-4 pun menjadi hasil akhir laga ini. Susunan Pemain Levante: Oier; Coke, Rober Pier, Postigo, Luna; Lukic, Campana, Morales (Rochina 85'), Bardhi; Roger (Lerma 69'), Boateng (Pazzini 77'). Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Semedo, Yerry Mina, Vermaelen (Pique 31'), Jordi Alba, Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta (Denis Suarez 60'), Dembele (Alcacer 60'), Coutinho, Suarez. (bola/pra)
FULL-TIME Levante 5-4 Barcelona: Barça could not complete one of the wildest comebacks of all time, and the unbeaten streak is over. This team will not be known as the Barça Invincibles, and that’s really sad after going 36 games without a loss.
GOAL! Levante 5-4 Barcelona (Suárez 71’): SUÁREZ SCORES A PENALTY! NO WAY! WE’RE JUST ONE GOAL AWAY FROM THE COMEBACK! UNBELIEVABLE!
GOAL! Levante 5-3 Barcelona (Coutinho 64’): COUTINHO HAT-TRICK! WE ARE DEFINITELY COMING BACK!!!
GOAL! Levante 5-2 Barcelona (Coutinho 59’): THE COMEBACK IS ON! PHILIPPE COUTINHO SCORES AND WE ARE GOING FOR A 6-5 WIN!!!!
GOAL, Levante 5-1 Barcelona (Bardhi 56’): Manita for Levante. You have got to be kidding me.
GOAL, Levante 4-1 Barcelona (Boateng 49’): Boateng hat-trick. Unbeaten streak over. Wow.
GOAL, Levante 3-1 Barcelona (Bardhi 46’): Second half starts with Bardhi scoring a screamer from outside the box to give Levante a two-goal lead once again. Great job, lads!
HALF-TIME, Levante 2-1 Barcelona: We played like crap for 40 of the 45 minutes, and we’re lucky to be down just one goal and still have a realistic chance to win. Let’s just improve in the second half, please.
GOAL! Levante 2-1 Barcelona (Coutinho 38’): WE’RE BACK IN IT! Wonderful piece of play between Luis Suárez, Gerard Piqué (!!!!!!!!!) and Philippe Coutinho, and the Brazilian fires home one of his classic long-range strikes.
GOAL, Levante 2-0 Barcelona (Boateng 30’): We’ve been horrible since conceding, Thomas Vermaelen got injured again, and now Boateng has a brace. Yay.
GOAL, Levante 1-0 Barcelona (Boateng 9’): Barça have made a fantastic start, and yet it’s Levante that go ahead thanks to a phenomenal run through the defense and a perfect short cross to Emmanuel Boateng for the opener. Ter Stegen almost got to the ball, but it was too late.
KICKOFF! Levante 0-0 Barcelona: Don’t give me a heart attack, boys! Let’s stay unbeaten.
LINEUPS
BARCELONA
Starting XI: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Mina, Vermaelen, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta; Dembélé, Suárez, Coutinho
Bench: Cillessen, Piqué, Digne, Paulinho, Denis, Gomes, Alcácer
LEVANTE
Starting XI: Oier; Coke, Rober, Postigo, Luna; Morales, Lukic, Campaña, Bardhi; Martí, Boateng
Bench: Villar, Lerma, Rochina, Pazzini, Cabaco, López, Fahad
It’s the final road trip for the season for La Liga champions Barcelona! This should be a fun game against a red hot Levante, so let’s see if we can win this one without Lionel Messi. When the lineups are out, the comments will be open and we’ll have some fun with a little LIVE BLOG!
MATCH INFO
Competition/Round: 2017-18 La Liga, Matchday 37
Date/Time: Sunday, May 13th, 2018, 8.45pm CET (Barcelona), 7.45pm GMT/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 2.45pm EST, 11.45am PST (USA), 12.15am IST (India, next day)
Venue: Estadio Ciutat de València, València, Spain
Referee: Mario Melero López
HOW TO WATCH, STREAM LA LIGA
How to watch on TV: beIN SPORTS En Español (USA, Canada - Spanish), Sky Sports Football (UK), SONY TEN 2 (India), SuperSport 7 (Nigeria), others
How to stream: beIN SPORTS CONNECT (USA, Canada), Sky GO (UK), FuboTV (7-day free trial, click here to sign up)
Matchday Thread Rules
We don’t have a lot of rules here, but there are a few things to keep in mind when joining our matchday threads:
Even if the referee sucks or we lose the game, no swearing. It’s just unnecessary. Also, don’t discuss illegal streaming links. Those who do will be warned, and those who post links will be banned. Finally, be nice to each other. This is a Barcelona community and we don’t need to offend one another.
Have fun with the game! VISCA EL BARÇA!
Barcelona will not be the first team in La Liga history to go the entire season unbeaten. The Blaugrana lost their undefeated streak thanks to a 5-4 win by Levante on Sunday night. The hosts got out to a 5-1 lead, the champions made a furious attempt at a historic comeback, but just couldn’t quite complete the job in the final road trip of the season.
FIRST HALF
Barça made a strong start to the game, dominating possession and forcing Levante to defend deep inside their half. But once Emmanuel Boateng scored against the run of playing to give the hosts a 1-0 lead, Barça fell apart and saw the home team have numerous chances to score.
When they had the ball, the Blaugrana were poor in possession, passing the ball sideways and lacking any real creativity. Things went from bad to worse when Boateng rounded Ter Stegen and scored the second, and it really looked like the champions were on the ropes. Then Gerard Piqué made a desperate run from back to front, and Philippe Coutinho scored a beautiful strike from the edge of the box to bring Barça back into the game.
At halftime, the Catalan giants were playing badly, but somehow they had a real chance to stay unbeaten. They just needed to play a lot better.
SECOND HALF
Any halftime talk from Ernesto Valverde went right out the window thanks to a spectacular strike from Enis Bardhi, and Levante were up two goals once again. As if things couldn’t get any worse, Boateng scored on the counter to complete his hat-trick and effectively end the match.
The match wasn’t over, but that was just because Levante wanted to score more, and they did on another counter attack that Bardhi finished beautifully to make it FIVE for the hosts. Philippe Coutinho then scored a second goal to make things less horrible for the visitors, and maybe give Barça hope of a comeback with 30 minutes left?
You know what? Maybe Barça would come back! Philippe Coutinho completed his hat-trick with ANOTHER strike from outside the box that deflected home (perhaps off Luis Suárez), and Barça had 25 minutes to find two goals. They found one when Sergio Busquets was fouled inside the box and Luis Suárez buried the penalty, and now they had 20 minutes to score one goal.
Unfortunately they couldn’t do it, and Levante held on to a fantastic win. Barça’s unbeaten streak is over, and a historic season will now be just a title-winning season. Which isn’t bad, but it could have been so much better.
Levante: Oier; Coke, Rober, Postigo, Luna; Morales (Rochina), Lukic, Campaña, Bardhi; Roger (Lerma), Boateng (Pazzini)
Goals: Boateng (9’, 30’, 49’), Bardhi (46’, 56’)
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Mina, Vermaelen (Piqué), Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta (Denis); Dembélé (Alcácer), Suárez, Coutinho
Goals: Coutinho (38’, 59’, 64’), Suárez (71’)
