Messi fires anxious Barca to success over Levante
Lionel Messi dragged a good nervous Barcelona to a good 1-0 win at home to Levante in La Liga on Sunday to cool tensions after a good chaotic week at the Catalan club.
Barca had dominated the overall game but didn't keep their composure before goal until Messi latched on to a good through ball from Frenkie de Jong and thumped it found in off the much post in the 76th minute.
The Argentine punched the air more in relief than celebration, having fired blanks in Barca's recent painful defeats by Cadiz and Juventus.
Barca were still made to sweat to get all three points, surviving a late VAR review for a possible handball against Samuel Umtiti plus a last-gasp volley from Levante player Son which landed found in the hands of keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
The win lifted Barca up to eighth in the standings on the subject of 17 points after 11 games, closing the gap with leaders Real Sociedad and second-placed Atletico Madrid to nine points.
"We always find it hard against Levante as they work so hard, they have a deep squad but we played good, we were better defensively than on recent weeks and we developed various chances," said Barca kept back Jordi Alba.
"Luckily we could actually take one of them and got the three points. You should give credit to the team as every player stood tall today."
Levante often prove a few to Barca when playing at home in Valencia nevertheless they possess never taken a point off the Catalans in the Camp Nou.
They came mightily near doing so, however, as Barca struggled to handle their opponents' defensive tactics, repeatedly interrupting the house side's play with their compact banks of four defenders and midfielders.
When Barca did manage to appear against Levante keeper Aitor Fernandez they tended to shoot direct at him or skip the target, such as for example when Clement Lenglet somehow squandered an open goal in the first half.
Messi also looked to come to be lacking sharpness, slicing a go hopelessly wide in the beginning period and needing 12 shots to find the net once and get the match.
