Barcelona continued their perfect start to the season with a 4-2 win at Levante on Sunday. Xavi Espart scored his first goal for the club to open the scoring before Lamine Yamal bagged a brace. The visitors did then let Levante back into it by conceding two sloppy goals before substitute Karim Adeyemi made it 4-2 to seal the three points.
Let’s take a look at three talking points from the game…
Xavi Espart off the mark
For any graduate of La Masia that makes it into the Barcelona first team, there are at least half a dozen
more who end up plying their trade elsewhere.
The likes of Hector Fort, Marc Guiu, Ilaix Moriba and many more have come into the side on a wave of optimism, only to be moved on shortly after making their debut.
The emergence of Xavi Espart seems different.
For a start, he hasn’t exactly been eased into the starting XI; he’s made an immediate impact and is keeping Alejandro Balde and Joao Cancelo out for the most part.
At 19, he’s another teenager like Pau Cubarsi and Lamine Yamal who just doesn’t appear to be fazed by the responsibility that comes with playing for the shirt.
Confident in possession, physical in the tackle, athletic in his work rate, and with the versatility to play in multiple positions, he is going to take some shifting from the team if he stays injury-free.
What a shame that his final touch was a poor one, which handed Levante a consolation.
Barca full of running
Goals win games, of course, but effort and application get teams in a position to score goals, and that’s something Barca’s players are doing with aplomb this season.
We’ve long been used to a high level of passing and movement from the Blaugranes, but rarely has the team been so full of running.
From front to back, every player is looking to close down the opposition as quickly as possible when Barca don’t have the ball, and when they are in possession, the speed in transition is something to behold.
The high line, so often an Achilles heel for Hansi Flick, has been working perfectly, simply because Barca’s players have consistently won the ball back before the opposition get anywhere close to Joan Garcia’s goal.
No wonder teams haven’t been able to live with them so far in 2026/27.
Pedri out of sorts?
It’s not too often that Pedri plays anything less than perfectly for Barcelona, but against Levante, he didn’t really have his best game.
Giving away the ball, making the wrong decision in possession… It’s practically unheard of, and that’s undoubtedly why it’s relatively newsworthy when it happens.
Let’s be honest though: even his bad games are still ‘ok.’
He has just set the bar so high that there’s an expectation that culers would get to see the best of him week in and week out, and this was one of those games where his performance was acceptable but nothing more.
