Levante CM -- A Journey to Becoming a Liga BBVA Mainstay

[m11jp]

Tough Test From Sevilla Ends in a Draw
Ghilas' 60th-minute PK rocket enough for Levante's first points of the season.

Ghilas, the striker on loan from FC Porto, got his first start of the season against Sevilla. By game's end, he would be a Levante fan favorite. Right from the opening kick, there seemed to be much more "juice" in the Frogs' attacking play. Ghilas must really want to prove to his club that they were fools to send him out on loan across the border. Chances were coming fast and furious for both clubs, but no goals were to be had early on. In the 30th minute, midfielder Jefferson Lerma, on loan from Atlético Huila (Columbia), went down with a knee injury. Víctor Camarasa would sub in and would go on to perform quite well. Both Ghilas and Camarasa made very strong cases that they should be regular starters. No score at half.

The fast-paced attacking style continued into the second half, much to the delight of the fans in the stands. Right-midfielder Rubén García would have to replace center-defensive-midfielder Verza in the 53rd minute when he went down with a femur contusion (Out 6 Days). Center-mid Camarasas would move to the middle, allowing the sub to play his natural position. Then in the 60th minute, a risky challenge by Sevilla triggered the referee to blow his whistle and give Levante a penalty kick. Felipe Baraga sent in-form Ghilas to the penalty spot. The keeper guessed the correct side to dive to, but it didn't matter as Ghilas put everything he had into the kick and sent it flying just under the bar and into the top netting. Levante were up on Sevilla with just 30 minutes left to play. The Frogs have actually had 1-0 leads in every one of their games this season. Their problem has been maintaining that lead, something you would think a squad that employs the 5-3-2 formation shouldn't be so dreadful at. Worse yet, teams have been answering Levante's scores in short order. Well, you can probably guess where this one is going. On Matchday 2 it took 5 minutes for Las Palmas to answer. Tonight it took less. In the 64th minute, Éver Banega was delivered at beautiful low cross right outside of the near post and he quickly settled it and sneaked a finesse shot between the keeper and the near post to level the score with his 2nd goal of the season. Although Levante was able to finish the game strong and the 1-1 draw would hold up, giving the Frogs 1 point, their first of the season.

Levante had a very strong showing against Sevilla, a much better team. But next week they travel to Camp Nou to play FC Barcelona in front of a capacity crowd of 99,354. Anything more than a loss to them would be some straight-up next level shhh. Neymar will be especially hard to stop. He leads La Liga with 3 goals.

Éver Banega's tying score

Spoiler

[m11jp]

Wow guys...

I just had a 0-0 draw at Barcelona in the bag thanks to a Dani Alves red card in the 27th minute and no Messi until the 53rd minute. There was really heavy rain too and they missed a few easy chances. Everything was going my way. And then I lost power in my room for a second so the PS4 turned off! I will replay it tomorrow and post the report ASAP.