Barcelona claimed an epic victory despite conceding three penalties

Luuk de Jong of Barcelona scored a header in additional time to earn his team a 3-2 win against struggling Levante following a stunning end-to-end match in which his team gave away three penalties.

Barcelona became the first team in La Liga to win a match after surrendering three penalties, and De Jong’s last-gasp goal gave them a seventh consecutive league victory, moving them into second place in the standings with 60 points after 30 games.

They are, however, still far behind leaders Real Madrid, who have 72 points from 31 games after defeating Getafe 2-0 at home on Saturday.Levante is ranked 19th with 22 points.

In the 52nd minute, captain Jose Luis Morales scored from the penalty spot following a foul by Dani Alves to give Levante a surprising but merited lead against a lacklustre Barcelona.

Moments later, the hosts were awarded a second penalty for a handball by Eric Garcia, who had stopped Levante from grabbing the lead in the first half by scrambling Morales’ attempt off the line.

This time, attacker Roger Marti went up to take it, but Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen stopped his shot. In the 59th minute, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang headed home a cross from Ousmane Dembele to make Levante pay.

Pedri, a 17-year-old midfielder, then gave Barcelona the lead in the 63rd minute, slamming a first-time shot into the bottom corner after being set up by Gavi, who had also been brought on from the bench in the second half.

Dani Gomez grabbed a through pass and was tripped by Barcelona defender Clement Lenglet, earning Levante their third penalty of the second half.Gonzalo Melero took over as goalkeeper and scored against Ter Stegen in the 83rd minute.

In the second minute of stoppage time, De Jong connected with a Jordi Alba cross and headed into the bottom corner, capping off an exciting game.

“The fact we won while conceding three penalties shows we are very competitive and have a winning mentality,” said Barca coach Xavi.

“I was concerned about this game because Levante are a difficult side with great players and they have beaten sides like Villarreal and Atletico Madrid. We’ve earned three golden points that keep us in the fight.”

But when pressed on whether Barca had a chance of catching runaway leaders Real, the coach added: “It’s very difficult because Real Madrid seldom slip up. But if they drop a few points in the next two weeks we can start to believe a little more.”

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