Barcelona roars back to win 3-2 at Levante as Atletico Madrid drops more points
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona fought back from a two-goal deficit to win 3-2 at Levante with a late own-goal by the hosts in the Spanish league on Saturday.
Defending champion Barcelona needed Pedri González and Ferran Torres to score early in the second half to equalize after the newly promoted Levante had rolled to a surprise two-goal lead at halftime.
Lamine Yamal then helped to produce the winning goal when he curled a cross into the six-yard box and Levante’s Unai Elgezabal headed into his own net.
Levante striker Iván Romero earlier struck from a counterattack in the 15th minute that started with a ball lost by Yamal. José Luis Morales made it 2-0 in first-half injury time by converting a penalty after a video review called a handball by Alejandro Balde when he blocked Morales’ shot.
But Pedri started the fightback in the 49th when he received Yamal’s pass well outside the area, picked his spot in the corner of the net and blasted in a shot from long range.
Ferran, who had hit the woodwork in the first half, leveled in the 52nd when he fended off his marker and volleyed in Raphinha’s corner kick.
Barcelona then pressed for the decider that Yamal helped find just after the 90 minutes were up.
Barcelona coach Hansi Flick praised Pedri for his goal, saying “it changed the match.”
“The first goal we scored helped us a lot to get our confidence in the box, but until the end it was not easy for us to get the three points.”
Barcelona won its opener at nine-man Mallorca 3-0 last weekend.
Rashford makes first league start
Newcomer Marcus Rashford made his first league start for Barcelona since his loan move from Manchester United as a left-side forward for Flick. He was replaced by Dani Olmo at halftime, after the biggest threats had come from Pedri’s passes in the middle and Yamal’s incursions down the right.
“I think Marcus had some situations in the first half where he showed how good he is and how he can help us, and that is how we have to continue,” Flick said.
Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski played his first minutes of the season as a late substitute after recovering from a muscle injury.
Atletico drops more points to start the season
Atletico Madrid stumbled for a second straight game to start the season after squandering its lead in a 1-1 draw with promoted Elche.
Diego Simeone’s club revamped its already deep squad this summer with its sights set on challenging Barcelona and Real Madrid for the title. But this is not the start the Argentine coach wanted with his team having just one point so far.
Just like its 2-1 loss at Espanyol the previous weekend, Atletico’s defense was uncharacteristically unable to protect a lead against Elche even with the backing of its home supporters.
Alexander Sorloth, who started alongside Julian Álvarez up front for Atletico, scored a fine eighth-minute opener when he ran onto a pass by defender David Hancko and looped an angled strike home.
Sorloth had a chance to make it a double moments later, but Elche goalkeeper Matías Dituro blocked his shot from inside the box.
Elche then stunned the Metropolitano with a quick passing buildup that culminated with an assist from German Valera for striker Rafa Mir to beat Jan Oblak in the 15th.
Giuliano Simeone erred with a shot that could have put Atletico back in front before halftime but instead hit the far post.
“We are working hard to get the most out of our players,” Simeone said. “With patience and work, the results will come. We can’t change course because we had two games that we deserved, at least, not to lose.”
Elche, a modest club from southeastern Spain, had also fought back in the opening round of games with a 1-1 draw with Real Betis.
Mallorca also scored late in a 1-1 draw with Celta Vigo.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
By JOSEPH WILSON
Associated Press
