Match Report: Levante success story continues as Villarreal fall at El Madrigal

La Liga has a new leader. Levante beat Villarreal away this evening 3-0 to leap over Barcelona, who tied with Sevilla yesterday, and Real Madrid, who had briefly taken the top spot yesterday with a win at Málaga.  Two marvellous goals from Juanlu and another from Koné put Valencia’s “second” club ahead, and an organized but unthreatening attack midfield from the home club ensured the visitors a victory.

Both sides came out relaxed, composed and patient, and Villarreal took most of the possession early on, working the ball through their midfield, with Borja Valero playing very well in the middle and on the right, using shot passes with the centre backs and wings.

Barkero nearly drilled a free kick from just outside the box in the first ten minutes, but Levante did not look to set up their attack much more than that.  Rather, Levante allowed Villarreal to keep possession, but they struggled to take advantage of it as the visitors closed in quickly within the area, intercepting passes seemingly at the last possible second.

It was then Cristian Zapata and Giuseppe Rossi who nearly took Villarreal up in the 13th minute with a beautiful string of passes through the midfield and into the area. Rossi’s shot, however, was a bit too weak and was blocked by Munúa.  Villarreal’s midfield worked the ball out to the wings and into Rossi in the centre, though they failed to set up a shot at a threatening distance and over-passed into Levante’s defence.

Levante’s calm without the ball, however, quickly turned into sudden, long counterattacks. Valdo, perhaps Levante’s best player of the match, made a series of long runs down the right side and through the middle on the counter and in the 16th minute, as he again found space to the top right of the area, sent a bending cross into Juanlu on the left side of the goal, who had snuck behind Villarreal’s back line.  Juanlu waited for the cross and volleyed it with a hard strike into the back right corner of the net.

After the goal Levante continued to counterattack without pressing, allowing Villarreal’s right side, especially Cani and Jonathan De Guzmán, to make runs through the middle but then closing in as they approached the area.  Their strength in the air within their area, beginning with their rugby player-looking captain, Sergio Ballesteros, interrupting chips and crosses, never allowed Villarreal to get a good look at the goal.

Levante began to consistently have success on the counterattack as Villarreal’s midfield continued to make short passes into the final third.  Their wing-backs were also so far pushed forward that once they would lose the ball; Levante would have only to beat Carlos Marchena and Gonzalo, two effective defenders, but utterly without support on the break.

This style continued throughout the first half of the match; Villarreal organized, with a commanding amount of possession, but without threatening the goal; Levante patient without the ball and then sudden and effective in their counter attack.

In the 43rd minute Juanlu completed the brace with a amazing display of poise and style in front of the goal. Koné had beaten his defender and dribbled down the right side into the area, passing in to Barkero who one-touch slipped the ball back to him through the final line and into empty space. Koné met the ball and turned, crossing it low and straight into Juanlu, who beat Diego López to the ball and swept it with his right foot behind his back, and around Lopez, into the left corner of the goal.

The second half began as the first half had ended, with Villarreal taking possession and passing well and then Levante counterattacking.  Five minutes into the second half Valdo dribbled all the way into the area and chipped Koné the ball, but he buried his into the left side of the goal. Levante did break through though a few minutes later as Valdo yet again sent a vertical ball through the defence to Koné, who was defended by Gonzalo. Koné cut back, Gonzalo went forward and the striker looked up to see only López between himself and the goal. He struck the ball with the outside of his right foot to the right and above the keeper’s arms. Shortly after Marco Ruben, who had entered in the second half, nearly scored on low, hard shot missing just wide to the left.

In the 70th minute Levante’s back line miscommunicated and let the ball slowly roll towards the goal. Ruben charged for it and Munúa dove off his line and Ruben went down.  Villarreal expected a penalty, clear contact having been made, but the referee surprisingly gave Ruben a yellow for diving.  Then in the 76th minute Rossi leapt into the air to challenge Juanfran and knocked the Levante player down.  Rossi was given a yellow for his challenge.

The final fifteen minutes of the match saw Levante begin to pass back more, looking to keep more possession. Valdo received a well deserved standing ovation from the visiting supporters as he came off, having been integral in each of the three goals.  Ruben again threatened in the final minutes, beating Munúa just in front of the goal and Rossi headed the ricochet into an empty net but Ballesteros ran in and headed the ball back out, saving the goal.

Levante’s patience without the ball, and efficiency before their own goal and Villarreal’s, proved to be the decisive factors of the match. Despite the final score, Villarreal did not play all that poorly, but they seemed to play well only in the wrong parts of the field. Unfortunately, that has been the story of their season so far. For Levante, the match was also typical of their season so far, but typical of a much more surprising and much happier season.

FT: Villarreal 0 – Levante 3 (Juanlu 16, 43, Koné 58)

Maxwell Kuhl can be followed via Twitter here.

Tags: Juanlu, Kone, La Liga, Levante, Villarreal